Edge of Destruction
by MBrabs1996
Summary: The threat of Nebula and Thanos is ever present, and everyone is going to have to make sacrifices for those they love. Even if it means the difference between life and death, the Guardians may need some help from an old friend of Gamora. Sequel to Stars and Constellations. Please R&R. Story is better than it sounds.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hey guys! So, here is the sequel to Stars and Constellations that all of you have been waiting for! You don't have to read that one to understand this one though! Although I do suggest you do so that I don't end up with questions like, "Who's Nikolai?" and "What's the skrelton and why is it so important?"**

Gamora lay wide awake in the captains chair of the Milano. It had been several weeks since her accident and her injuries were healing up nicely. Tomorrow they had a meeting with Nova Prime before she would send them to earth...if she made that decision. For all they knew, she could have changed her mind.

As she looked out at the stars, she clutched the necklace, which consisted of a chain and a silver ring. It was the only thing she had left of Nikolai, and she'd miss him dearly, but deep down, she knew he was in a better place. Away from Thanos and Nebula.

"Can't sleep?" A voice asked from behind her, making her turn her head, startled at the voice but relaxed when she saw Peter.

"No. I am just thinking." She answered, moving to stand up only for Peter to stop her.

"Don't stand up. You shouldn't put weight on your leg like that." He said, gesturing to the brace that extended from Gamora's foot all the way up to her mid thigh as he sat down beside her.

"What if Nebula is already on earth Peter? What if we're already too late?" She asked, her brown eyes boring into his blue ones

Peter sighed, "Gamora, I doubt that she's smart enough to know that it's on earth."

"You should not doubt my sister." She said grimly.

"Anyway, Earth is huge! There's no way that she knows for sure it's in New York with Maria." He assured her before helping her up and bringing her back to their room.

* * *

On Titan, Nebula paced in front of Thanos while two other dark figures stood off to the side.

"We were betrayed by our own! Gamora still knows where the necklace is! We must find it at once!"

"Enough!" Thanos shouted, silencing his oldest daughter, who bowed her head in submission.

"I only want to please you, father." She lied, her voice barely above a whisper.

"And so you shall. You must find it."

"How will I? I do not know where Gamora is."

Thanos smiled at Gamora and slowly approached her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"I will send several of my best men to find your sister and bring her here. You must go and continue searching for the skrelton," He said, "And when you find it, bring this...friend...that Gamora claims to have left it with. Am I clear?" He asked, giving Nebula a stern look as she bowed her head once more.

"Yes father."

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)**


	2. The Mission

**A/N: So here's the next chapter! I hope y'all like it! Enjoy!**

The Guardians sat in the conference room as Nova Prime paced in front of them.

"So the plan is, you are to go to Terra and find that friend of yours. Help her protect the Skrelton necklace at all costs." She said, A sense of urgency in her voice.

"Should we return with it?" Drax asked, and Nova nodded, clasping her hands in front of her as she took in the groups reactions.

Gamora had her arms crossed and didn't meet the older woman's gaze. Her gaze was fixated on the floor. The others I had their gazes firmly fixated on Nova Prime.

"Yes do you understand this plan?" she asked, crossing her arms as everyone nodded, "Very well then. All of you are dismissed. I suggest you go to Terra as soon as possible. Once Nebula realizes the necklace is with Maria, she will target her."

* * *

The group got back to the Milano and Gamora immediately went to the communication device on the table.

"What are you_" Peter started, but cut himself off when you saw the screen say calling Maria Hill in big red letters.

Maria answered faster than she had last time, although she still looked irritated, especially with all the commotion in the background.

"Maria I hate to ask you for a favor I'm such short notice, but_" She started, only for the agent to cut her off.

_"But The Nova Corps is sending you here to retrieve and protect the necklace and you need to stay at the tower?"_ She asked, sighing as Gamora nodded, "that's fine. I can set up rooms for all of you. How long will you be staying?"

"For as long as Nova Prime says. She has also requested that we keep you safe once Nebula finds out that it's with you, you will be her target."

Maria started laughing hysterically at the mention of protection.

_"Oh please. I'm a level nine SHIELD agent. I_"_ She started, only for a mans voice to cut her off, saying, _"Think before you finish that sentence. Remember last time?"_

Maria rolled her eyes, _"alright, fine. By the time you arrive, everyone will be at work. Or returning. Stark can meet you or Emily. Feel free to park your ship on the roof of the tower."_ She said, disconnecting the call before Gamora can say anything else.

* * *

They landed on the roof of the avengers tower late the next afternoon.

"So who is meeting us?" Rocket asked as they exited the Milano.

"I am!" A small voice said from a nearby doorway. They turned to see a child, a girl, of about four years old. Her pale blonde hair waspulled back into two braids and her eyes were as blue as the sky.

Rocket laughed harshly, "they sent a child to come get us." He said, making it sound more like a statement than a question.

The little girl just smiled at him, not even the least bit scared of them, "my uncle Tony was supposed to. He got busy." she said as she turned and skipped to the elevator, pressing the 23rd button. She looked at Gamora.

"You hurt." She said, making it sound more like a statement as she gestured to the leg brace.

"My older sister hurt me." she answered so the child could understand.

"That isn't very nice," She started, sighing, "but you're pretty. Your big sister is jealous. That's what my auntie Ria and my mama say." She added, shrugging as the elevator doors opened and they walked into the main lounge to find a woman with a strawberry blonde hair on the phone trying to call him someone down.

"Tony, I can assure you that Lilith is_" she started, her gaze finally landing on the child who was with the guardians, "i'll have to call you back." She said, ending the conversation

"Auntie Pepper, These are auntie Maria's friends." Lili saidas the elevator door opened once more to reveal the rest of the avengers.

"There you are Lilith! You cannot just run off like that! Tony called your dad and I freaking out. He thought someone kidnapped you!" Natasha said reprimanding her young daughter, Who looked at her mother feeling guilty.

"I'm sorry mommy. I didn't mean to scare anybody." Lilith said, looking down to the floor.

Maria changed the conversation,"anyway..." She started, trailing off as she approached Gamora and Peter, "this is Peter Quill and Gamora. SHIELD helped them out several years ago. I assume this is your team?" She asked, her hands folded behind her back as she looked at Drax, Rocket, and Groot.

"Yeah. This is Rocket, Drax, and Groot. He can only say three words. But he's really communicating." Peter explained.

Maria nodded and turned to the Avengers.

"Well, these are the Avengers...and their...spouses I guess I should say. Bruce Banner, Betty Ross, you remember Natasha and Clint. You met their daughter Lilith. Steve, Thor, and Jane...but where's Emily?" Maria asked, noticing her younger sister wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"She took Jason to the store with her." Pepper explained, just as the teen in question entered with the four month old, handing him to Pepper.

"You're all probably exhausted from your journey. We can all get properly acquainted and reacquainted once we all have all gotten some rest. We will show you where you will all be sleeping. Gamora and Peter will be on my floor, Drax on Natasha and Clints floor, and Rocket and Groot on Pepper and Starks floor."

"Sure. Give us the tree and talking Raccoon." Tony grumbled, earning a disapproving look from his wife.

Maria sighed and turned on her heel, about to walk back to the elevator when Gamora grabbed her gently. Stopping her in her tracks.

Maria just gave her a look. She seldom let anyone touch her, but didn't take her arm from Gamora's firm but gentle grip.

"The Skrelton?"

****A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)****


	3. Settling In

**A/N: Hey guys! Here is the next chapter! Hope y'all like it!**

Maria nodded and gestured for everyone to go into the kitchen while she went and got the necklace.

"How do you fare, lady Gamora?" Thor asked, giving the Zehoberian a kind smile.

"I am well, Thor. Yourself? What of your brother?"

Thor's smile faded, " Loki is dead." He stated, not noticing everyone's sigh of relief.

"But I was hoping to teach him another lesson in manners."

Everyone looked at Gamora, "You beat up Loki too?" Bruce asked in awe.

Gamora nodded, "Yes. He was not very pleasant to be around so I put him in his place."

"But if you lived on Titan and those two were on Asgard, how did you meet?" Jane asked, raising an eye brow at Gamora and crossing her arms.

"Peace treaties mostly. Thanos had to meet with Odin and Frigga often while Thor and Loki would accompany me and Nebula elsewhere. My father told me of Frigga's passing, but not of Loki's." Gamora explained, pursing her lips.

Rocket coughed, "Don't work." And coughed again.

"Your victory over Ronan was often talked about in Asgard when I had last seen my father," Thor started before turning to a young man with shorter blonde hair and a muscular build, "He does a wonderful impression of you, friend Steven." He added, earning a laugh from everyone as Maria entered.

She was holding a medium sized metal box with a panel of numbers, similar to the safe that the Nova Corps had. A red light was shining, which indicated that the box was locked. The agent punched in a code and the light turned green and a loud click of something unlocking could be heard as she opened it to reveal a smaller, similar looking metal box and a key that went to it.

Maria used the silver key to unlock the box and she finally revealed the necklace.

The Skrelton looked the same as it had a few years earlier since Gamora had last seen it.

"You keep it here? That's gonna get us all killed, Maria!" Emily exclaimed, crossing her arms.

Maria rolled her eyes at how dramatic the teen was being, "Emily, just go watch Disney movies with Lilith and Jace." She ordered.

Emily was silent, clearly thinking about it before she shrugged and took the toddler and infant with her into the living room.

"Anyway, it's safer here than it is at SHIELD. Especially after what happened in D.C. last April. Director Fury gave me permission to bring it back here. That's actually where we had been keeping it. The Triskelion. If it's here, it's a place that Nebula would least expect. If anything, she'll go to SHIELD first." Maria explained, taking a seat beside Steve as she placed the necklace back into the boxes.

"You realize that once my sister is taken care of, I need to bring it back to Xandar. Don't you?" Gamora asked.

"We know." Clint, Natasha, and Maria answered simultaneously.

"Now, let's show you to your rooms." Pepper said, changing the subject as she gestured for the Guardians to get up.

* * *

Gamora and Peter followed Steve and Maria while Rocket and Groot followed Pepper and Tony, and Natasha, Clint, and Drax bringing up the rear.

Each of the floors that everyone lived on were like luxurious apartments, more like a loft. Three to four bedrooms depending on the floor, hard wood floor that made your footsteps echo, a hall closet, small kitchen, and couches and a TV. Why each habitable floor even had a kitchen and a TV was beyond them since everyone congregated on the top floor for meals and entertainment.

Maria and Steve led them up two short steps and took a quick right down a small hallway before finally stopping at a bedroom.

The room was a good size with beige walls and a queen sized bed with a light grey comforter. To their right was a large bay window that overlooked the city, and Steve opened up to let some fresh air in.

"Well, you will be sleeping here. Our room is just down the hall, first door on the left and directly by the steps along with the hall closet. You can find extra blankets and towels. You have a dresser, walk in closet, and a bathroom is diagonally across from here. When Emily sleeps over, which is often, her room is at the end of the hall." She explained, nodding her head to her left.

_"I am sorry to disturb you, but Director Fury requests to speak with you, Captain Rogers. Should I send his call to your cell phone?"_ A voice asked from the walls, confusing Gamora and Peter.

"JARVIS is an AI or Artificial Intelligence. He basically runs the tower," Steve started, sighing as he got his cell phone out of his pocket, "Send his call through JARVIS."

"We'll be in our room. I will be anyway. Just come find one of us when you're settled." Maria explained, turning and leaving the two alone as she closed the door behind her.

* * *

Meanwhile, Drax was going through the same process with Clint and Natasha.

"Any questions?" She asked once she was done explaining everything, placing her hands behind her back as Drax shook his head.

"Oh, and if you need anything and we're not around, just ask Lilith. She knows where everything is." Clint explained, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed.

Drax nodded, "Lilith does seem like a very sweet but intelligent child. You are doing a good job raising her from what I can see." He complimented them, giving a kind smile.

"Thank you. We're actually very new to parenting. We only adopted her a little less than a year ago."

"How did she come to be in your care?" He asked, interested in what the childs story was.

Natasha sighed, "Well, her parents were murdered in cold blood when she was a few months old. We don't really know much about her parentage. She was in foster care for awhile but none of her foster parents seemed to care for her from what she said and she moved to an orphanage when she was three. Then, shortly after she had turned four, the orphanage burned down. We didn't want her to go through all that crap again because she deserves to have a real child hood." She explained, leaning against the wall. That was all the information she really knew that Director Fury had willingly told her.

She knew that he was keeping something else from her. Something that concerned Lilith.

"It was a wise decision on your part. She seems very happy here and very attached to all of you."

The two assassins only nodded before leaving Drax to get settled, giving him the same instructions that had been given to Gamora and Peter.

* * *

"So, bed, closet, bathroom is down the hall next to the hall closet, please don't take anything apart without asking." Tony said, heading the warning that Peter had given him.

"Can't make explosives?" Rocket asked, looking up at Tony as he sat on the white comforter. Tony gave him a look.

"As long as the kids don't get hurt or find them and they aren't left lying around, and it's in the lab...and you don't blow the lab up, Pepper doesn't care." He said, only for Pepper to call to him.

"Yes I do!"

Tony sighed, "There's a list of rules in the lab somewhere if you make explosives." He said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"I am Groot?"

Rocket rolled his eyes, "No i'm not going to commit arson!"

"I am Groot?"

Tony groaned as Rocket argued with the tree and decided to leave and join Pepper before he got a migraine or did something he'd regret.

This was going to be a long mission.

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)**


	4. Fun

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry I didn't update yesterday. Not much happens in this chapter really. Just some catching up, teasing, etc. Figured this story could use a bit of humor occasionally. Enjoy!**

Gamora left her and Peter's room wearing the clothes that she had arrived in since she didn't have any suitable clothes for Earth's chilly winter. She heard Steve talking to someone on the phone in the living area, and he didn't sound very pleased. She walked into Maria's bedroom.

Maria appeared to be looking at something as she rummaged through the drawer on the nightstand. On the mahogany dresser to the left of the bedroom door was a mirror and a jewlery box and a picture of Maria and Steve to the left of it.

"That was taken in Florida just after we got engaged." Maria said, startling Gamora.

Gamora nodded and approached Maria to see the other woman holding a silver picture frame, a picture of a dark haired woman not much younger than Maria, smiling into the camera.

"Who is this woman? She is very beautiful." She said, gesturing to the picture that Maria held.

"It's a gift from my father. He had over heard me telling Steve that I didn't know what my mother, Mary, even looked like. He gave it to me. Danny, my brother, has one too because after awhile, he had started to forget what she looked like," Maria started, sighing as she placed the picture underneath the lamp on the nightstand, right next to a picture of her, Danny, and Emily. "She died giving birth to me. My father was so grief stricken that he couldn't look at me, so he turned to drinking and became physically and emotionally abusive." She added.

On Steve's night stand were similar pictures. A picture of a younger woman, a picture of him, Maria, and an older woman who was in her nineties, and a picture of them with the rest of the group.

"When will you marry?" She asked, sitting down on the bed, wanting to catch up with Maria.

"January twenty-first. You, Peter, and your team can come if you want. I meant to invite you the last time we talked, but I didn't get the chance."

"I will talk with Peter about it, but we may just come."

Maria got up and looked at Gamora, "You're not sleeping in that, are you?"

"I do not have suitable clothes for this weather."

Maria nodded and went over to the dresser, taking out a white, long sleeved t-shirt and black leggings before going to Steve's side of the dresser and pulling out a black t-shirt and sweatpants.

"You and Peter can borrow these. Fury wants to meet with all of us for a debriefing and afterwards we can go shopping for clothes for all of you. Or Emily can make you your clothes if she feels up to it." She said, handing both pairs of pajamas to Gamora, who nodded, "Over the next week, i'll be working late to help Fury and Coulson rebuild SHIELD and administer lie detector tests to agents and such."

"How did SHIELD fall?"

"It's a long story. I would rather not talk about it."

Gamora noticed that Maria tensed up when she said that and the woman had let out a shaky breath, but decided not to push her for information like she normally would. Steve came in at the moment.

"What did Fury want?" She asked, looking at Steve inquisitively.

"I have to go on a mission with Natasha and Clint. I leave at five tomorrow morning."

"He's sending you three on another mission? You just got back from one." She said, crossing her arms and pursing her lips, something that Gamora noticed Maria did when she was annoyed.

Steve whispered something in Maria's ear, trying to make it so only Maria could hear, but Gamora definitely heard.

"It's a HYDRA operation. They have leads on where he is." She heard him whisper, and Maria tensed up once more.

_What is HYDRA? Who is the 'he' they are referring to?_ She thought, about to say something but thought better of it as she made a mental note to ask later.

"How long will you be gone?" Gamora asked, finally speaking up.

"Could be as little as two weeks, maybe as long as a month. I won't know until I know the mission."

Gamora nodded and went to drop the change of clothes off in her and Peter's room before rejoining Maria and Steve, who brought her back up to the top floor where they say Peter and the other Guardians, Emily, and Lilith watching a movie. She assumed that everyone else was elsewhere in the tower or getting ready for dinner.

"I thought you were in the shower." Gamora said, making it sound more like a statement as she faced Peter, who sat on the end of the black leather couch.

"Emily talked me into watching disney movies. I never thought i'd like something that's aimed towards children, but this movie is pretty good." He answered.

"What movie?" She asked, sitting on the floor in front of Peter.

"Mulan." Emily, Maria, and Lilith all said simultaneously as Maria and Steve sat down.

"Mulan is the only disney princess that accomplished something without the help of a man." Maria said, sighing, "Well...I guess you can count the movie Brave, but that's later."

"Yeah, I was gonna say. Mulan is the first to accomplish something without a man. She taught me that I can do anything a man can do and I can do it in heels and a dress. I guarantee you that once I become an agent of SHIELD when i'm eighteen, most of my moves are going to come from this movie."

"So you're going to throw shoes at the enemy if your partner is in trouble?"

Emily only gave Steve a thumbs up as her answer as Natasha and Clint entered.

"Oh did I tell you guys my friends, Tony, and I made this movie into a drinking game and an exercise game?"

"Huh?" Natasha and Clint both asked simultaneously having walked into the lounge at the wrong time.

"Yeah. Every time Mulan does something stupid, it's twenty jumping jacks. Every time we see a horse, we do ten squats. A reference to honor is twenty crunches, seeing Shan Yu and his gang is a twenty-five second plank. Every time Mushu says something funny, it's fifteen lunges."

"And the drinking game?" Clint asked, raising an eye brow at the teen.

"You take a shot when anyone bows, Fa Zu prays, anyone mentions the words honor, war, China, Huns, and Fire. Take a shot when the grandmother enters the screen or says a funny comment, and when Mushu says something funny. Then, when they break out into song, you just take a beer and start chugging it and don't stop until the song ends. You can get drunk on the song about honor alone! I played this at a college frat party last year, and I got so drunk that I just passed out at around the part where they discovered that she was a woman. Some random college girls had to bring me home."

Maria raised an eye brow, "When did you and your friends go to a frat party?"

"Did I say frat party? I meant sleepover. Oh you can make any disney movie a drinking game. Even the second movie."

Maria rolled her eyes, "Emily loves Disney movies. That's going to become apparent over the rest of your stay. You'll always find her watching them. Even the ones that came out in the last few years."

"Hey! You love them too! Maria will watch them with me when she isn't busy and she'll sing along to the songs with me regardless of the fact that we're alone or not. She actually used to sing me songs from these movies when I was a baby."

"I know. And now Disney still puts you to sleep as easily as it did when you we're two."

"I say we should play these drinking games tomorrow night." Peter said, raising his hand like an elementary school child.

"I don't like using disney movies for drinking games because then it starts to ruin my childhood and make me feel bad. We could only use one or two of my least favorite disney movies before I start feeling guilty. Then we can use other movies. Titanic is a great example. Or a horror movie or romance movie."

"Not with the children around to witness this game I hope." Gamora said, knowing that it wouldn't be good if the children witnessed all of them getting drunk.

"Maria and I can have our dad watch them. Or just set Lilith up with her own game or movie and put Jace to bed early." Emily suggested.

"I'll think about it. Oh, want to spend the next two weeks here? Steve, Nat, and Clint have to go on a mission." Maria said, gesturing to her fiance and the two assassins.

"Wait, you aren't going to kidnap Lilith to sleep with you?" Clint asked, a teasing tone in his voice as he blocked a hit that Maria sent his way. Lilith was completely oblivious and not paying attention to the adults conversation, too engrossed in the movie to care.

Maria rolled her eyes.

"Seriously though. If you get that lonely and anxious when Steve is gone, either sleep in a spare bedroom on anyone elses floor or have your own children. Don't steal ours." Natasha said, only half serious as Maria elbowed her in the ribs.

"Why have my own children when I have a sixteen-year-old sister that has the mentality of an eight-year-old?"

Everyone laughed at Maria's comment, all except Emily who continued to watch the movie with Lilith curled into her side.

They all watched the movie in silence until it ended, and at that point, Emily got up and grabbed her car keys, heading towards the elevator.

"Where ya goin' kid?" Rocket called, only to be ignored as Pepper came out of the elevator and into the kitchen to start dinner.

"Perhaps she has to return to her father." Drax said, only for JARVIS to answer for them.

"The younger Miss. Hill is heading home to get clothes for her stay." The AI said.

They all continued talking and actually goofing off until Emily returned and Pepper called everyone for dinner.

Gamora smiled at how relaxed everyone was despite the situation at hand. They all needed to unwind after a long day, something that she seldom did. It was fun.

They needed just that.

Fun.

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review:)**


	5. Comfort

**A/N: Hey guys, so this chapter explores some pasts of Maria and Emily , courtesy of Steve.**

Gamora's brown eyes snapped open in the early hours of the next morning, somewhere between 2:00 and 3:00 AM. She didn't know what awoke her, but she had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her to go check it out.

She threw the covers off of her, careful not to wake Peter, and got out of the bed, quietly leaving the room. She took a left and went to Maria and Steve's room first, opening the door a bit to find that the two were both sound asleep. She quietly closed the door, careful not to wake them either since the slightest noise would wake them up and went down to where Emily was sleeping.

She opened the door to see that the teen was tossing and turning, sweating and visibly shaking. She recognized the fact that she must have been having a nightmare, prompting her to approach and gently shake Emily's shoulder.

"Emily!" She whispered, urgent but still calm as she continued to shake her.

The teenager continued to toss and turn.

"No. Stop." She mumbled, burying her face into her pillow, still sweating and shaking uncontrollably. Something caught Gamora's eyes, causing her to grab one of Emily's arms and roll up the sleeve of her dark blue sweatshirt to reveal long horizontal scars on her arm. Without letting go of Emily's left arm, she did the same with her right arm, revealing the same scars.

Gamora may have been from outer space, but she recognized self-inflicted wounds when she saw them. Never in a million years would she imagine Emily going through this. Although she didn't know much about Emily in the few years she knew her, but Emily was more of a sister to her than Nebula was. She seemed so happy when the two of them had met when Emily was just a small thirteen-year-old.

"Don't touch me. I'm eight. I'm a little girl."

Gamora looked back at Emily to see that her eyes were still tightly shut and was struggling to pull her arms out of the former assassin's grip.

"Emily, it's alright. You're safe." She said, saying the same thing that Peter had told her to calm her down not too long ago after she had been saved from Titan.

Emily let out a partial scream, quickly slapping a hand over her mouth as her green eyes snapped open and she let a few stray tears slip out of the corner of her eyes. Emily's eyes landed on Gamora's hands that were still holding her arms in a vice like grip, the sleeves rolled up to reveal the scars. She forcefully pulled her arms out of the woman's grip in fear.

"Don't tell Maria." She choked, pulling down her sleeves as Steve, Maria, and Peter rushed in, but Emily was already asleep once again as Gamora smoothed back Emily's dark hair, whispering something into her ear so only she would be able to hear.

"Everything will be alright. I promise."

"Was she having a nightmare?" Maria asked, sitting down on the edge of the bed on Emily's other side.

Gamora only nodded.

"I'll stay with her. Go back to sleep." Maria assured them, forcing Steve, Gamora, and Peter to leave the room.

* * *

Instead of going back to the bedroom with Peter, Steve gently took her by her elbow and lead her down to the floors kitchen, gesturing to the small, circular table in the center by a couple of windows.

"So, what happened?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" She asked, raising an eye brow. At first she thought he meant what happened to her leg, but when he gestured back towards the bedrooms, she finally understood.

"How did you know Emily was having a nightmare?"

Gamora shrugged, "I felt that I should check on her. I checked on you and Maria first, then I went to her room. She was talking in her sleep. It was quite...alarming," She started, and they sat in silence for several minutes before she added, "Was Emily raped, Steve?"

Steve's head snapped up to look at her, "What makes you think that?"

"The words she was saying. I only want to know so I can help Emily. So I can be of use while I am here until Nebula and Thanos are stopped. If she was, I will not tell her or Maria that you told me, or let them know unless they ask or want to tell me themselves."

"I don't mean to be rude, but what makes you think I know?"

"Well, Maria is your fiancée and you seem to be close with Emily."

Steve sighed, knowing that Gamora wasn't going to drop the subject until he gave some answers.

"Yes. She was waiting for her brother to pick her up from school and three men took her and raped her when she was eight-years-old back in Chicago, where she lived at the time. The men that did it...Maria knew them. They were their dads friends."

"And they sexually abused Maria when she was a child." Gamora stated, putting two and two together so Steve didn't have to force himself to explain. She could tell his tone of voice went from that of calm to starting to get angry from trying to explain it.

Steve only nodded, "Last year, their dad's friend they_they tried to_"

"You don't have to go into any more detail, Steve." She said, cutting him off.

"Well, they're trying to forgive their dad. Their brother had an easier time doing it, but there's still trust issues between Danny and their dad, especially since he has a family of his own now. I actually feel bad for John because all he wants to do is make things right and be apart of their lives, but Maria and Emily won't let him touch them. Hugging wise and all of that, won't be alone with him for long periods of time. That's why Emily stays here some nights. John never hit her, but he was emotionally abusive towards her and she witnessed him beating Maria. She's afraid of him. They both are."

"Well at least they're trying to forgive they completely forgive him? Maybe they will. Maybe they won't. Eventually however, they'll be able to have that father daughter relationship with him that they didn't have as kids." Gamora explained, sighing.

"I know. It just needs time. He only got out of rehab last March so we can all expect it will take awhile."

"May I ask another question?"

Steve nodded.

"What is HYDRA? I heard you whisper something into Maria's ear and a 'he' was mentioned."

Steve sighed, "I fought them during World War Two. They resurfaced again and i'm helping rebuild SHIELD with Phil, Nick, and Maria. They practically destroyed it. An old friend is apart of HYDRA now after I thought he was dead for the last seventy years. Well, since I got out of the ice. His mission was to kill me back in DC."

"He does not sound like a good friend."

"He was brain washed basically. Didn't know what he was doing...he actually saved me, but I haven't seen him since."

Gamora nodded, "I asked you because Maria would not have told me...the pictures of the woman on your night stand...was that your girlfriend from World War Two."

"It's complicated. Wasn't much of a relationship, but we did like each other. After her, I didn't think i'd find anyone that I loved just the same as her. Then I met Maria."

Gamora nodded and yawned, "I should get back to bed. I will see you in the morning if you are still here." Gamora said and got up, refusing Steve's help as she made her way to her and Peter's room, checking in on Emily to see that she was fast asleep with Maria sleeping on the other side of the bed.

She sighed sadly.

I wish I had that with Nebula. She thought sadly as she closed the door again and went back to bed, dreading the debriefing they would have to sit through with Fury.

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)**

**XxNo flamesXx**


	6. Meeting Fury

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a few days! The other night I had to close at work, and then yesterday I worked and was just too tired to update! But I have time before work to update now. Enjoy!**

Later that morning, everyone stood in Director Fury's office. Thor, Bruce, and Tony, the only Avengers who were able to attend the debriefing, stood off to the side while Maria stood silently next to Coulson to the left of the Directors desk. Gamora sat in the chair in front of his desk because of her bad leg, while Drax stood behind her, Peter to his right, with Rocket and Groot.

"Let me get this straight. Thanos and your sister know that the Skrelton is here?" Fury asked, looking at all of them with his one good eye before sighing.

"We don't know for sure that she knows it's here, but it won't be much longer before she does." Maria answered, speaking on behalf of everyone.

"And what's your plan if she does find out?" Coulson asked, directing the question towards Gamora.

"Either way Nebula needs to be stopped. If and when she finds out, we stop her the best we can. Take any measures we can to ensure that there isn't a war. Then we take the necklace and bring it back with us to the Nova Corps." Gamora answered, sighing as she leaned back in the leather chair.

"You also realize that by being here, and keeping the necklace at the Tower, you're putting the children at imminent risk?" Fury asked, making it sound like a statement, actually sounding concerned for Lilith and Jace's safety.

"Their safety is number one no matter what." Coulson added, agreeing with Fury.

"My sister may be cruel, but she would never harm a child unless given the orders to do so."

"Ha! Well that's reassuring!" Tony said, his tone dripping with sarcasm as he let out a fake laugh.

"I say we find the bitch before she finds us!" Rocket said, shrugging.

"Catch her and Thanos by surprise, perhaps?" Drax added, an enthusiastic tone in his voice, while Groot chimed in with his 'I am Groot' response.

"Sure that's a good idea?" Peter asked, raising an eye brow at his friends.

"Peter's right. That doesn't sound like a good idea. We should wait it out and see what happens. If Nebula decides to attack, one of us can put a tracker on her. Which ever one of us she decides to go after, and she can bring us to her and Thanos' location. What's her strategy, Gamora?" Bruce asked, being the only level headed one in the room as he looked at the green skinned woman.

"She will wait until she finds the targets weak point, or she will wait until the target themselves is weak. That's how she got ahold of me."

"Well, who's the target this time?" Tony asked, leaning against the wall to Gamora's left.

Without saying anything, everyone simultaneously turned to look at Maria.

"Why is lady Maria her target? She is not weak." Thor said, looking at everyone inquisitively.

"I gave Maria herself the necklace. I assume that Nebula won't just take the Skrelton and leave quietly. She will want to deliver Agent Hill to my father." Gamora explained, causing for Director Fury to sigh in frustration.

"Well worry about that shit on Monday. You're all dismissed, now stay out of my sight until then!" He ordered, earning curt nods and a 'rude!' from Peter and Tony as they dispersed, "Oh, and Agent Hill," He added, making Maria stop in her tracks, forcing her to turn her head to look at him.

"Yes sir?"

"I suggest that you bring the Skrelton back here so you don't lead them right to you."

Maria just looked at him coldly, "I know what i'm doing." She said, her voice soft but firm as she turned and left.

_That's what she always says._ Fury thought, sighing as he turned to look at Coulson, "I want you and your team to keep a close eye on them over the next several weeks. Understood?"

Coulson nodded before he himself left silently.

* * *

As Maria walked through the busy streets of the city having decided that it was best if she just walked that morning, she was unaware of two figures watching her from the roof of a nearby building.

"I say we strike her now while her fiancé is away, father." Nebula suggested, pulling back the hood on her cloak that she wore.

"Patience. You will have your chance, but we must wait."

"For how long?"

"Strike when they least expect it. You will observe them-her-and search for a weakness." Thanos explained, smirking at Nebula.

"How will we do that, father?"

Thanos' grin only grew wider as he saw a little blonde headed girl and Emily run up to Maria and the child hug her around the waist, "Take what matters most to them," He added, then seeing Nebula's confused expression said, "The child."

They watched as Maria picked the child up with one arm and put her other arm around Emily's as they continued to walk back to the Tower with the rest of the group.

"What of Maria? I thought you wanted her too?"

"That is correct, but you're getting ahead of yourself, my child."

"But_" Nebula started, only for Thanos' to cut her off.

"I have a plan." He said, his gaze never wavering from the group until they were out of sight.

**A/N: Oooh what's Thanos' plan? Feel free to give predictions! Please review :)**


	7. Bad Days

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in awhile, things have been busy, but I will update more this week since i'm not working a lot.**

A week and a half later and there was still no sign of Nebula and Thanos. The group didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but as Gamora had said, she was buying her time. Gamora had also gotten her leg brace taken off by Bruce, but he had still ordered her to take it easy as to prevent any more damage to it.

Emily walked into the kitchen with a dog following after her.

"What is that?" Drax asked, gesturing to the Rottweiler.

"This is Natasha and Clint's dog, Roxy. She was at the kennel for several days after you arrived." She said as she sat down at the table.

"We weren't sure how she'd react towards all of you." Maria added, looking up from her computer at the guardians.

Peter moved to pet the dog, only to be growled at.

"Don't take it personally. She doesn't like a lot of men, but she'll warm up to you." Bruce said as he started to make lunch.

When the dog caught sight of Rocket, she jumped on Gamora's lap with her front paws and started sniffing at the raccoon.

"Hey! Keep this thing away from me!" He yelled, trying to move away from Roxy, only for the dog to go to the other side of Rocket.

"Aww, she likes you!" Peter teased him, smirking at his friend.

"Really? Because it seems to me like she thinks he is a toy." Gamora said, raising an eyebrow

"Nah. She only likes bones."

"Lovely." Rocket grumbled, pushing the dog away. Roxy finally gave up and went to lie down beside Maria's chair.

"Oh and since all of you basically refused to go shopping for new clothes that Saturday after you arrived, I took the liberty of making clothes." Emily said, getting up and going to the fridge where she got an energy drink before she sat back down.

"Oh that's just great." Peter said sarcastically.

"Oh, she's actually good at making clothes that people like.. She made some clothes for us too." Pepper said, coming into the kitchen with Tony and Jace.

"Em, why don't you go call Sam and see what he's up to?"

Emily shrugged and ran out of the kitchen.

"She's got such a girlish crush on him it's so obvious." Tony said, sighing, "If they get together at some point, i'm not even going to be surprised."

"How do you know they like each other?" Drax asked inquisitively.

"Well, there's this sexual tension in the room when they're together." Jane said as Lilith came skipping into the kitchen.

"If that does happen, our dad won't be able to say anything because he married Emily's mom when she wasn't much older than Emily is now. I think she was Emily's age to be honest. It was before the age of consent laws were changed...or they just didn't give a crap about those laws. If he did try to say anything, she'd say, 'well you married my mom when she was my age!' she's also dated and had relations with guys that were much older than her anyway. He doesn't know that though."

"Oh yeah, wasn't your step mother also your aunt? Your mothers youngest sister?"

Maria turned to glare at Stark, "How the hell did you know about that?"

Tony shrugged, "Files"

"Wait...so would that make Emily your cousin or still your sister?" Betty asked, crossing her arms.

"Sister since we still share a parent."

"So can we assume Steve knows?"

"I may have skipped out on that detail. I'll tell him whenever I decide." Maria answered, shrugging as she took a sip of her water.

"Not good to keep secrets!" Emily called from the lounge.

"Not really a secret!" Maria retorted before she turned back to the others, "I always have reasons for keeping secrets."

"Anyway, when are they coming back?" Pepper asked, sitting down at the end of the table and taking out some paperwork.

"I called a few days ago. They wouldn't tell me when they were coming back, they just said 'soon'." She answered, sighing, "They always do that and it's actually starting to get on my nerves." She added, sighing again as she got up and let Lilith take her seat.

"Hey Maria!" A womans voice called from her right.

Maria abruptly turned and saw Natasha standing at the stove, which made her turn to her left and saw Clint less than a foot from her, making her fall backwards and have Steve catch her.

"By far the best reaction she's had!" Emily said as she came into the kitchen with her phone as everyone else burst into hysterical laughter.

"Em, please tell me you didn't take a video?" Maria said, making it sound like more of a statement.

"Okay. I didn't take a video to post on YouTube." She said, slowly putting her phone back in her pocket.

Lilith looked up, finally noticing her parents were in the room.

"Mommy! Daddy!" She squealed, running into her fathers arms.

"Were you a good girl, Lilith?" Natasha asked, brushing a strand of blonde hair out of her daughters face.

Lilith nodded, "Uh huh. Drax told bedtime stories, mama!" She said, holding out her arms for Natasha to take into her own.

"Really? Well what were these stories?" Clint asked, looking at Drax warily.

"Just stories my own daughter enjoyed when she was Lilith's age."

"Oh yeah, Maria, speaking of fathers, we saw yours in town on our way here. Let's just say he found out about..well, them," Steve started, nodding his head to the guardians, "And he isn't very happy."

"Well tell Dad that he can go suck a_" Emily started, only for everyone to cut her off.

"Emily!"

"You should not use foul language in front of the children, lady Emily." Thor said, making Emily roll her eyes.

"You think I don't know that? I work at a day care with children that range from six months to twelve-years-old for crying out loud. I learned the hard way." She explained as Maria leaned against the counter and the womans phone started ringing.

"And speak of the devil." She said, answering her phone.

The group could hear Maria and Emily's father yelling at Maria through the phone, hearing him say things like, 'stupid' 'danger' and 'children' which they put together to mean, "You're so stupid to let aliens stay with you and put those children in danger."

"Yes dad, I realize that_" She started to say, but he cut her off.

"I know. And i'm not_"

She couldn't get a sentence out before she was being yelled at again. After arguing with him for more than twenty minutes, well, him yelling at her as though she was a teenager, Maria opened her mouth once more.

The guardians, minus Gamora, and the Avengers, minus Pepper and Steve, were thoroughly amused.

She was forced to shut her mouth once more when her dad cut her off again. This time, he hit his mark.

"Steve, talk to my dad. He'll listen to you." She said, handing him her phone as she got up and quickly left the kitchen. She had looked as though she was about to cry.

Steve also got up and left while Gamora got up and went after Maria.

* * *

The zehoberian went to Maria and Steve's floor and to their bedroom, knowing that she'd lock herself in there. The door was locked as she had expected.

"Maria? It's me." Gamora said, knocking on the bedroom door.

"Go, Gamora." Maria ordered, making the other woman sigh.

_I thought teenagers only acted this way._ She thought, sighing before saying, "Maria Hill, if you do not open this door I will kick it open."

She waited for several more minutes before she heard the turning of a lock and the door opened.

Gamora studied Maria. She didn't look as though she had been crying, just as though she needed to cool off.

"What did he say?"

"He was just being condescending and verbally abusive just like before he went to rehab. He's trying his best not to snap like that, but occasionally it does still happen. Better emotionally and not physically, which i'm actually grateful for. He also mentioned my mother, and that was the last straw for me. It hurts when he mentions her because I never got to know her."

"If he knew it would hurt you, he should not have mentioned her."

Maria sighed, "He's like Emily. He doesn't think of the consequences when he says something."

"You are defending him?"

"Not defending him. Just stating a fact." She said as they went back to the elevator and made their way back up to the lounge.

* * *

Once back in the kitchen, Rocket said, "Thank God we don't have to get in the middle of this family shit."

"Don't jinx it." Peter said as Steve came back in and gave a mixture of a sigh and an eye roll.

"Do you always give Steve the phone when you do not wish to speak with family?" Drax asked, giving her a disapproving look.

Maria nodded, "Makes my life easier."

"Oh yeah, Maria's dad is on his way." Steve said almost casually.

Everyone groaned at Steve's announcement while the guardians glared at Rocket for jinxing them.

"Are you fucking kidding me!?"

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)**

***No Flames***


	8. Fights

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in awhile! I've been super busy with work and school...and actually considering becoming a stripper instead of continuing my math, but that's a story for a different time.

When Maria's father arrived a short time later, everyone sat in awkward silence as John stood, glaring at all of them.

Emily looked at her cell phone as it went off, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Oh look, my friend Peter is here! See you later!" She exclaimed, getting up only for her father to glare at her, which made her sit back down next to Maria.

"Invite him up because you aren't going anywhere until someone here tells me what the hell is going on!" John growled, making his youngest back her chair as close to Maria and Steve as possible.

"Well John, it's like this_" Tony started, only to shut up when everyone else glared at him, "Steve?" Tony asked.

Steve sighed, "With all due respect, John, this really isn't_" Steve started, only for a voice to cut him off, calling for Emily.

"Hey Emily? Are you_"

The voice abruptly stopped when a boy of about eighteen entered.

"Is this a bad time?" He asked, looking at his friend, who nodded and he started to slowly back out of the kitchen.

"Sit your ass down, Parker! If we're going down, we're bringing you with us!" She snapped, making Peter sit down beside her.

"For the record, I have no idea what the hell is going on here."

"That makes two of us, Peter." John said, sighing, "Someone better tell me what the hell is going on before I start getting angry."

"Wait, you aren't already angry?" She asked, only to be shut up by Maria slapping her upside the head.

"Gamora's sister and Thanos. That's what's happening." The older Peter said, "Nebula is after a necklace that Gamora gave to Maria awhile back."

John turned to Maria, narrowing his eyes at her.

"I hope you realize that you're putting the children and Emily in imminent danger."

"Not_"

"And by rights I shouldn't even let you see Emily with this job of yours."

Maria cleared her throat, "Well, dad, Danny and I are still technically her legal guardians. So until the courts give you the right to have her living with you full time, I can see her all I want and you don't have any say in it." She said, standing up and glaring at him before he turned to leave, only for her voice to stop him once more, "I wish you died instead of mom."

"That makes two of us. But I suppose we can't all get what we want." He said, not turning to look back at her as he left.

"You know, for a second there I thought he was going to slap you around." Rocket said, crossing his arms.

The agent said nothing as she grabbed her things and left the kitchen, Lilith getting up and following her.

"So...Peter and I are going to go with her..." Emily said awkwardly, trailing off.

"I will go with you." Gamora said, getting up and following after them.

The rest of the group looked at each other before getting up and following Gamora, all except Pepper, Betty, and Jane, who were all confused as to what just happened.

"Where are we going?" Emily asked as everyone piled into the black SUV.

"You're not bringing us on a murder rampage, are you?" Tony asked, earning a glare from everyone.

"Are Jane, Betty, and Pepper going to notice our absense?" Drax asked.

Maria sighed, "No and quite possibly. We're going to SHIELD." She answered as she put the van in drive and pulled away from the curb.

"So, who wants to play a game?" The younger Peter asked.

"I have a great idea for a game!" Emily said excitedly.

"Really? What is it?"

"It's called the quiet game! Whoever talks first gets kicked out of the car!"

Peter gasped, "You're mean!" He said, about to say something else when the whole group cut them off.

"SHUT UP!"

A/N: Let me know what y'all think. Please review.


	9. The Helicarrier

A/N: Hey guys! here's the next chapter and i'm sorry that it's a little short. I've been sick for the last couple days and working, so, yeah. Enjoy!

When they arrived, several SHIELD agents were already waiting for them as Maria put the car in park and got out, the group following after them.

"Commander Hill, Director Fury has ordered us to bring you and your company to the helicarrier." A fair haired female agent told her.

"Then why are you telling me? Just bring us there."

It was silent for several minutes as everyone was lead to a helicopter where they were then flown to an airborn vessel that the guardians had never seen before.

"This is...different." Gamora said, at a loss for words as they landed.

"Where are we?" Drax asked, looking at Maria suspiciously as they got out.

"It's a helicarrier. We work on land as well as in the air." She explained as she lead them to the directors office where another agent stood to the directors left.

"You wanted to see us, sir?" Steve asked, approaching the directors desk with Maria and the others.

Fury sighed, "Yes. I'm afraid I have bad news. Did you bring it, Agent Hill?"

Maria nodded and reached into her jacket pocket and pulling out the necklace, hesitantly handing it to the director, who examined it closely.

"We think there's something in it, sir." Natasha stated, about to go on when everyone shot her a look.

"We'll worry about that later. I've called all of you here because it appears that Nebula and Thanos are in New York."

Everyone started talking at once.

"How did they get here so quick?"

"How did they even find out?"

"What if_"

"Enough!" The director shouted, cutting all of them off.

"I don't know how they got here and I don't know how they were undetected as they did so, but I do know they've been here for quite some time."

"They're biding their time. Waiting until we're weak to strike." Gamora said, sighing and sitting down in one of the chairs.

"Which is why all of you are here. You'll stay here until things calm down."

"But what about Pepper and Jace? Betty and Jane?" Clint asked, raising an eye brow.

"I have it under control. I sent Coulson and May to bring all of them to stay with some...allies of mine in upstate New York. They'll be well protected. There's a lab, a private library so they can get work done."

Gamora was about to say something when the necklace fell off the directors desk, and it opened almost like how one would open a locket to reveal a stone, very similar to the one back on Xandar, but it was a very dark purple, almost black.

"Well that explains how it's so powerful." Tony stated, completely awestruck as Quill hesitantly picked up the necklace, careful not to touch the stone that was inside of it.

"Yes, it also explains why Nebula wants it so badly." Gamora added as Peter closed the locket.

"How many infinity stones are there?" Quill asked, looking at Gamora and Thor.

"Six I believe." Thor answered, earning a nod from Gamora.

"Yes. The infinity stone of time, power, which is this one I assume, the orb, the aether, the tesseract, and the scepter."

"Well what should we do? Destroy it?" Clint asked Fury, who sighed and handed the necklace over to the agent on his left.

"Agent 13, please take this and put it in area 192, section B." He ordered.

"13? Like the fricken number?" Rocket asked the woman, who nodded.

"Exactly like the number." She said, walking out and closing the door behind her.

It was then that Maria noticed a few faces were missing, and she started frantically looking around the office.

"Where are Emily, Peter, and Lilith?"

When she said that, everyone went into a frenzy to try and find the three of them.

"Where the hell are they? They were just here ten seconds ago and just like that, they disappeared!"

"Maria. It's a helicarrier. There's only so many places they can be." Steve said, sighing.

"Well, they could not have_" Gamora started, but was cut off by a beeping sound.

That's when several explosions happened, sending the three of them flying across the room.

A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)


	10. Lost

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's the next chapter, I should be asleep, but my dogs are barking and yeah. So, enjoy this chapter! Oh and I changed the color of the gem to green. Because well...who doesn't like green?**

Steve and Gamora groaned in pain, but on high alert as they started to get up.

"You alright?" Steve asked, looking at the assassin.

Gamora nodded, "Yes. You?"

Steve gave a curt nod, "Fine. Maria?"

Silence.

"Maria?" He asked again, turning to where his fiancee lay on the floor. Maria lay on her stomach just part way under a computer desk with a fairly large cut on her face and her hands were burned. It was clear that she had gotten the worst of the explosion and had been most likely standing close to where it happened.

The two of them pulled the rest of her body out from under the desk and turned her over on her back to check for more injuries. Gamora and Steve looked at each other in worry. They needed to find the others and the source of the explosions, but they didn't want to leave Maria alone, injured and unconscious with a fight going on.

"Go on! I'll stay with her!" Coulson called, jogging up to them and kneeling down beside Maria, opposite Gamora, "Agent Hill is down. We need a medical evacuation." He said into the comm. link as Steve and Gamora hesitantly but quickly left the area.

"Emily!" Steve called as loud as he could down the busy hallway. Alarms were blaring and all the agents were in a frenzy, "I'm going to kill her after this!" He added, earning a nod of agreement from Gamora.

* * *

Emily and Peter were goofing around on the detention level when they heard the explosions. Lilith wasn't with them since she had gone to find Coulson.

"What the hell was that?" Peter asked, looking at Emily in confusion.

"How should I know? You're Spider-Man, you go figure it out!" She snapped, crossing her arms.

Peter shrugged and went to leave, only for Emily's voice to stop him.

"You aren't going anywhere!"

"But you just said_" He started, only for her to cut him off.

"Believe me. It would raise a lot of questions if Spider-Man just showed up on a flying fortress. Emphasis on the FLYING."

Peter sighed and rolled his eyes, "Make up your mind, woman!"

Nebula watched the two teens argue in amusement. With the two of them distracted and everyone else running around, it would give her just enough time to grab the child and get out without being detected.

Now if she could just find said child.

* * *

Lilith aimlessly wandered around the halls as agents were running around in a frenzy, shouting out orders left and right, careful not to trip over her.

"Mommy? Daddy? Uncle Phil?" She called, feeling overhwhelmed with the situation at hand, and within minutes, the hallways were empty since everyone had something more important to do than babysit a child. Albeit the child of two master assassins. A child that belonged to the Avengers.

"Uncle Steve? Auntie 'Ria?" She called in the deserted hallway, going from one empty room to the other calling for each member of her family. Even calling for a few of the guardians as well.

It was then, after checking the last room in that hallway, just before she was about to give up and head back to the detention level where Peter and Emily were, a voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Hello, Lilith."

Lilith slowly turned around to see a bald, blue skinned woman staring back at her with a cold glare. She had no idea who she was or how the woman knew her name, but she knew just from the looks of her that she wasn't friendly.

"You're coming with me."

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)**


	11. Tell Them

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I didn't update the last couple of days! I've been very busy with math and work and all that fun stuff. Notice the sarcasm behind that? Yeah. It aint fun. Please enjoy this chapter :p**

As they slowly made their way up to ground level, Emily and Peter heard Lilith screaming, making them take off in a running start. They could hear shouting and gun shots and the hulk raging.

When they finally made their way up the stairs out of breath, Emily bent down and picked up the gun of a fallen agent and briskly walked in the direction of Lilith's screaming to find Nebula carrying the terrified child in the opposite direction.

"Drop her!" Emily ordered, aiming the weapon at Nebula as Lilith tried to desperately get out of Nebula's grip, but she had a vice like grip on her. Nebula just smirked at Emily.

"You dare threaten me? You're a child. A weak, pathetic, child. You're_" Nebula started, only to be cut off by someone slamming into her, tackling her to the ground.

Lilith was dropped to the ground, but she quickly got up and ran towards Emily as Gamora and Nebula both got into their fighting stance.

Emily and her friend took this as an opportunity to run with Lilith.

"Peter, go find Natasha and Clint! I'll take Lilith to a safer place!" She told him, earning a hesitant nod before they went in opposite directions.

Emily made her way back down to the detention level, unaware that several of Nebula's men were lying in wait for an ambush.

* * *

It wasn't until nearly half an hour later that everything had settled down. The whole group was gathered in the infirmary around Maria's bed. Everyone had cuts and bruises from the battle, but Emily was an emotional wreck. She had bruises covering her from head to toe, even on her neck, and all from the beating she endured down on the detention level.

Natasha and Clint were noticeably absent, trying to find Lilith, still believing that she was on the helicarrier.

"She's going to lose it when she finds out about the kid." Rocket said, sighing.

"Maria's gonna lose it? What about Natasha and Clint?"

"Them too. Which is why Emily should tell them!"

Emily gawked at the raccoon, "Why should I tell them?"

"Because you were the last one to see Lilith alive!"

"Woah woah woah Rocket! Lilith is not dead. We don't know if she's dead or not." Quill said, coming to Emily's defense.

Steve sighed, "Peter's right. We can't jump to conclusions. I'll tell Maria, Emily can tell Natasha and Clint."

"As long as there's no yelling." Bruce said grimly.

"No promises."

"No. Maria, Natasha, and Clint will know because Steve and I always tell them bad news. After we compliment them."

"No. You give them compliments to lessen the blow. I don't."

"What blow?" A voice groaned, making everyone turn to look at Maria, who was now wide awake and looking at all of them suspiciously.

"Go ahead. Tell her capsickle." Tony said in amusement as Steve struggled to get the words out.

"You know, Maria, have I told you how much I love you?" Steve asked, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Okay, I was wrong. He tells her how much he loves her." Emily corrected, crossing her arms and leaning beside the wall.

"What happened?"

Steve sighed, "They took Lilith."

Just as he said that, Natasha and Clint had walked in.

"What!?" They yelled.

If looks could kill, everyone would be dead. It wouldn't be pretty to say the least.

"How?" Natasha asked, turning to look at Emily.

"Uhm...hey did you do something different with your hair?" Emily asked awkwardly, scratching the back of her head.

"Em, just tell her." Maria said, putting her hands over her face so no one would see the tears escape her eyes. Emily still shook her head and backed away from the two assassins.

Natasha sighed, "Emily, do you like Nature shows?"

"Yeah, why?" Emily asked, confusion in her green eyes.

"Have you seen what a mother bear will do to protect her cubs?" She asked, raising her voice as she closed the distance between them.

"I took Lilith down to detention to escape Nebula and we were ambushed!" She squealed, backing away as she shield her face with her hands.

Natasha said nothing as she pushed past Emily and out of the room with Clint following behind.

* * *

Everyone looked at Emily, who looked like a deer in headlights. The teen did the only thing she could do, and that was to turn tail and run.

The younger Peter and Maria sighed, and both started to get up, but were stopped by Gamora.

"I'll go speak with her. She's frightened and panic stricken." Gamora said softly, giving Maria and Peter a stern look.

"I am Groot."

"I don't see why she should be scared. It's not her kid, and she wasn't abducted by a homicidal bitch."

"She probably fears that Natasha and Clint blame her." Drax said, shrugging.

"Lady Emily is very sensitive, my furry friend." Thor added in agreement.

"Don't call me that."

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)**


	12. Plans

**A/N: Hey guys! Here is the next chapter, I'm sorry but its a little short. I'm getting a bit of writers block now. So hope you enjoy!**

Lilith was on Nebula's ship en route to Titan and her hands and feet were tied. She was no longer crying, but she was petrified since she wasn't on Earth. She knew she wasn't on earth anymore.

"I want my mommy and daddy." Lilith told the man who stood in front of her. He appeared to be no older than his mid twenties, perhaps her mothers age, with jet black hair and pale blue eyes. He didn't look like he meant any harm, in fact, he looked sympathetic to the child.

"Don't worry. You'll be seeing them shortly."

"Don't get the child's hopes up, Darien!" Nebula snapped, sending a sharp glare in the mans direction.

Lilith didn't know what was going on, but she knew that this was wrong on so many levels.

* * *

Meanwhile, Gamora had finally managed to track down Emily, who sat against the wall with her knees pulled up to her chest.

"Are you alright?" Gamora asked, sitting down beside her.

"No. It's all my fault." She choked, looking at the green woman, who shook her head.

"No it isn't. You tried to protect Lilith. That's all that matters."

"Yeah, but it probably wasn't good enough for Natasha and Clint. They blame me. I saw it in their eyes."

Gamora sighed, "No they don't. Their response is a reasonable one. Would you not be angry or scared if your own child was kidnapped?"

Emily sighed, "I'd be a nervous wreck to be honest." She said as she finally straightened her legs out and leaned her head back against the wall, "Lilith is like my niece or even like a little sister and I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her. Have you ever felt that way before? Like fearing for Peter's safety?"

"We watch out for each other, but it does cross our minds on the more high risk missions, yes." She answered truthfully, brushing a strand of Emily's hair out of her face.

"For so long I was afraid of everything and everyone. I was so scared to tell people my name and about myself. I couldn't open up to people, you know? Then my dad got out of rehab and I don't know how to act around him half the time. It's like walking on egg shells around him. Part of me wants to hate him but the other part wants to have the father daughter relationship we never had when I was a child. Then my nephew and Lilith came into the picture and I realized I had very little to be afraid of."

Gamora was surprised that Emily was being so open with her. She had always been so sheltered and she would never forget the fear and anxiety in Emily's eyes when she had first met the then thirteen-year-old. The teen had kept backing away from her and avoided eye contact, only speaking when spoken to. According to Peter, Emily had been much worse when she had first met him.

A lot had changed since then. She was more outspoken and learned to trust more, albeit she was still traumatized from her past.

"What happened in your past is not your fault. You are strong and resilient. You are brave. I have never seen someone as brave and resilient as you."

"When I was twelve or thirteen I started sleeping around. Sometimes i'd sleep with men as old as Maria. I was pregnant last year, but I lost it," She said softly, "It was more of a still birth than a miscarriage but everyone at school says it's my fault and calls me names. When Nebula took Lilith, I felt that same pain all over again and I don't know how much more I can take." She said, letting out a shaky sigh.

"Does your father know?"

"He was still in rehab. I don't want him to know because I know he's going to blame himself. No one told him about Maria's loss for the same reason."

"None of what's happened could have been prevented." Gamora said as she put an arm around Emily, who placed her head on the guardians shoulder.

They returned several minutes later to see everyone was now in Maria's small room.

"Gamora, you know your sister and Thanos better than anyone. What do they want with Lilith." Coulson asked, looking at her expectantly.

"They will use her to bring us to them. To force us to give them the necklace. They won't kill her though. That much I am sure of." She answered, hearing several sighs of relief from around the room.

"We should form an extraction plan to rescue Lilith. I say Maria and the guardians should be the ones to go."

"Why not Natasha and Clint? They're her parents." Emily said, raising an eye brow at Coulson.

"Because. They're expecting Agent Hill and she's the one they want. Agent Morse, Agent Thirteen, and Agent Ward will bring the necklace to the main base and along with several agents, will guard it."

"Then Agents Romanoff, Barton, and a handful of Agents will stay here in case Nebula and Thanos return. We'll give Agent Hill a communication link and we'll monitor the extraction." Director Fury explained, sighing as he noticed that Emily had her hand raised, "Yes Emily?"

Emily slowly put her hand back down before she hesitantly spoke, "Can I be part of the extraction?"

Director Fury sighed and folded his hands behind his back, looking at Emily as if he was thinking about it before turning to address Maria.

"Can she hold her own in a fight?"

"I once hit Maria so hard that she threw up when we were sparing, does that count?"

"Don't talk about it."

Fury rolled his eye and turned back to address Maria, who sighed and began to speak until they heard a loud crash. The group turned to see Quill on the ground and Emily pinning him down.

"Come on dude! I was caught off guard! No fair!" He exclaimed, trying to push the teen off of him, but failing, "Geez! At least put your whole body weight on me!"

Emily sighed, "This...this is my whole body weight.."

Peter just gawked at her, "Really? Damn you're like a fricken Bunny Rabbit!"

Emily laughed and got off him. The fact that Emily could take down a man half her height and body weight was pretty pathetic. Pathetic for whoever got into a fight with her.

Fury sighed, "You leave in an hour."

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)**


	13. Yondu & Nova Prime

**A/N: Hey guys! So here's the next chapter and I hope y'all had a great holiday! Oh, and I was watching GOTG with my friends and I was like, "No seriously. Imagine Peter and the others trying to handle Gamora while she's on her period and that is the time that Nova Prime decides to send them on a mission so she doesn't kill Peter or her team mates." Just out of curiosity, if I did write a fanfiction about that...raise your hands or say 'aye' if you would read it.**

Two hours later, Maria, Emily, and the Guardians sat in the sitting room of the Milano going over the plan.

"Rocket and Groot along with Emily will cause a distraction. Drax and Maria will stay behind to monitor everything, and only will they leave if we're getting our asses kicked. Other than that, they will open the airlock and let me and Gamora in when we return with Lilith. Do you guys understand?" Peter asked, earning nods of approval.

"But Nebula will just come back to earth looking for the stone." Maria said, crossing her arms and sighing.

"Our priority right now isn't to worry about the stone. It's to get Lilith out of harms way." Gamora said, letting out a shaky breath. If anything happened to that child, she would never forgive herself. She felt a strong attachment to the girl, and something was special about Lilith that Gamora couldn't put her finger on, but she knew she was special.

"I want all of you to be honest with me here. Does anyone have a problem with this plan?" Peter asked, looking at his team.

Everyone shook their heads.

"But there's another problem. They will be expecting us and will have hundreds of their men and there's only seven of us." Emily said, sounding as though she doubted the plan.

"I can get Yondu and some other Ravagers to help out like last time, and_" He started, only to be cut off by the communicator on the table blinking, "Speak of the devil." He added, answering the call.

_"Peter, boy, where the hell are ya!"_

"Oh wouldn't you like to know! We're on our way to retrieve a child that's been kidnapped by a homicidal maniac."

_"Boy, do you have a death wish or somethin'?"_

"That's debatable." Rocket said, shrugging.

"Well, being a hero isn't the safest job out there." Peter said, staring down Yondu as he attempted to keep Maria and Emily hidden from his sights.

_"You said somethin' about a child. What did this child look like?"_

"Oh, like your average Terran child. Blonde hair, pale blue eyes, fair skin, last seen in a white t-shirt with blue jeans ripped at the knees...female."

_"With an attitude problem?"_

"She doesn't have an attitude problem!" Maria and Emily snapped from behind Peter, getting defensive. Peter mentally face palmed, wondering why the women couldn't just let that comment slide.

_"Step aside, boy! Who ya hidin'?"_ Yondu asked, making Peter sigh and do as he was told, revealing the two sisters.

_"So, you have not one, not two, but three women that are out of your league on your ship?"_

The half-terran sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Yondu, what were you saying about Lilith?"

_"Lilith? Is that her name? Pretty name for a pretty little girl. Why couldn't you have been a girl, Peter? Much easier to raise!"_ Yondu asked, earning some stifled laughs from Peter's friends.

"Right. Can you meet us on Xandar at the Nova Corps headquarters? That's where we're heading to meet with Nova." Peter asked, clasping his hands in front of him.

_"Alright, boy. See ya soon."_

* * *

Yondu was the last to arrive at the Nova Corps headquarters and stood beside Peter.

"Boy, I'm surprised I wasn't arrested."

"Because we told them you were coming, stupid!" Emily snapped, glaring at the Ravager with her arms crossed. Yondu turned to where she and Maria stood.

"What's your name, girl?" He asked, circling them as he gave them a good look over.

"We will not share that information." Maria said, moving to protectively stand in front of her sister.

"Ya know, sweetheart, if we gonna work together, ya need to trust a little."

"Well do you trust us? Two Terrans who are, as you said, 'out of Peter's league.'?" She asked, crossing her arms as Nova Prime and Denarian Dey entered, making everyone turn to face her.

"You must be Maria. I'm Nova Prime Rael and this is Denarian Dey. We have heard a lot of wonderful things about you." She said, shaking Maria's hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, Nova Prime. This is my sister, Emily." Maria said, allowing for Nova to turn and shake Emily's hand.

"Oh yeah, thanks for telling us that the Skrelton necklace is a friggin' infinity stone!" Rocket snapped.

Nova Prime was taken aback at the Raccoons statement.

"What?"

"I am Groot."

"The Skrelton. It is another infinity stone. A green one." Drax said, seeing Nova put her hand over her mouth in shock.

"Good God," She said, sighing before she looked at Denarian, who was just as shocked as she was, "It's the Soul Gem. That's another name for it. It allows whoever possesses it to steal, manipulate, and alter souls, living or dead, and it's a gate way to an idyllic pocket universe much like Heaven. It can also steal the powers and abilities of others. It's the most dangerous and corrupt of the infinity stones." She explained, letting out a shaky breath.

"Don't worry, Nova. We'll bring it back as soon as all of this is over."

"You have a plan." She stated, looking at the former outlaw inquisitively.

"Yes. And it's 80% of one this time!"

"Yondu, they say you last saw Nebula. Where was she?" Nova asked, still facing Peter.

"I saw her with a little girl collecting supplies on Halfworld, then they left. I lost sight of 'em. And the child? She has a very colorful vocabulary. Said words to Nebula that I ain't gonna repeat."

"Yeah, Lilith can be a sassy little bitch sometimes. She gets it from her mom!" Emily said, "Although, i'm starting to think we need to watch our language around her."

Nova sighed and continued to fill them in before she adjourned the meeting.

"Good luck to all of you." She said, turning and leaving with Dey following behind her.

The plan was a go.

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)**


	14. Trouble

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated the last few days. It's been very hectic to say the least.**

When they got to Titan, they immediately put their plan into action. Maria had decided that at the last second she was going to go and Yondu and a few Ravagers would stay on the Milano in case they needed back up. Gamora and Peter sent Rocket, Groot, Emily, and a few other Ravagers to start a distraction.

Peter, Gamora, and Maria stood off in the distance, hidden and watching the guards that stood at the main gate waiting for the plan to go into action.

"What's taking them so long?" Peter whispered to the two women. Gamora sighed and almost got up to go deal with the guards herself and like clockwork, several explosions sounded from the distance and the guards had no choice but to go investigate.

"Something tells me they have an obsession with bombs." Maria said as they went inside, earning a nod from her two companions.

"If I were to hide a child, where would I hide them?" Gamora said to herself as they came to a long, dark, corridor. She remembered this corridor all too well. When Thanos killed her parents and first brought her to Titan, she was kept and tortured in a cell. Although she highly doubted that Lilith was being kept in a cell.

They stopped in front of a door.

"Sure she's in there?" Peter asked, looking at Gamora, who nodded.

"Positive." She answered, carefully punching in a code to the door. She heard a click and the door opened.

The room had a gothic feel to it, didn't have very much color at all. Peter wondered how Gamora could have lived like this for almost her whole life.

Stayed the same as I left it. She thought, her eyes finally landing on Lilith, who was unconscious, tied to the bed.

"Lilith, wake up. It's us." Peter said, gently shaking the child.

Lilith's eyes snapped open as Gamora took her knife and cut Lilith free from the ropes and the child's eyes lit up when she saw them.

"Where are my mommy and daddy?" She asked as Gamora finished cutting the ropes and Peter picked her up, holding her close as though she were his own child.

"Something isn't right here. Nebula has to know we're here by now."

"That is how my sister works. She does not care about Lilith. She only cares about the stone and will use us to lead her right to it," Gamora said as more explosions sounded from the distance, "As I said before. Our priority is to get Lilith out of here. We'll worry about everything else later."

"Do you have a plan?"

Gamora nodded as they left the room, looking around and noticing that Maria wasn't anywhere in sight.

"Where's Maria?"

Peter shrugged and looked at Gamora and then the child in his arms as it finally clicked why Maria suddenly vanished.

"God dammit. Here, take Lilith back to the ship. I'll be back." Peter said, carefully handing the blonde headed child to his girlfriend as he walked in the direction of the explosions. Gamora just followed him.

"What are you talking about? Where's Maria?" She asked, trying to keep up with Peter, who turned to look at her.

"Put it all together, Gamora! Why do you think she all of a sudden decided to come with us instead of staying on the Milano? She has her own plans!"

Gamora's eyes widened when she realized what Peter meant.

"She's going to trade herself into Nebula for Lilith."

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)**


	15. Struggling

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry it's been awhile since I've updated. I have work, school, other fan fictions, etc and I lost track of time!**

Peter had to think fast. He handed Lilith over to Gamora.

"Get her back to the ship. I'll meet you back there soon." He said, barely getting the last word out of his mouth before he took off running in the direction that he thought Maria went in. He ran as fast as he could through the dark corridors, trying to find Maria before she found Nebula and vice versa.

He finally found Maria walking with purpose through the hallway in the same direction that he was heading in. The agent had yet to notice him as she continued to briskly walk in the opposite direction and Peter had to pick up the pace as Maria turned at the last minute for him to grab her, placing a hand over her mouth to keep her from saying anything. Maria put up a fight trying to get out of his grip, making the former outlaw wrap his other arm tightly around her waist before Maria kicked him in the groin, but he ignored the pain and tightened his grip.

He had to practically pick her up to get her back to the ship, and she was still struggling as he threw her onto the couch and he had to climb on top of her, resting all his body weight and practically cutting off her air supply until she stopped struggling and Peter got off of her. Only to see she was knocked out cold.

Quill checked her pulse, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that he didn't kill her as Gamora came down from the flight deck.

"You found her, I see." She said, crossing her arms.

"Yeah. She put up one hell of a fight too," He said, standing up and looking at his girlfriend, "Where's Lilith?" He asked, raising an eye brow at her.

Gamora nodded her head down the hall towards her bedroom and went in that direction, opening the door to see the small, blonde headed child fast asleep in the bed.

"Guys? Why is Maria passed out?" Emily called when she arrived back moments later, coming into the bedroom. The teen had various cuts on her face and a bruise on the side of her jaw and cheek bone.

"What happened to you?"

"I had an unfortunate run in with Nebula," She started, earning startled looks from them, "It hurts to talk right now. I'll tell you about it when my face stops hurting." She added, and Peter gently took her by the arm and brought her into the bathroom to get the first aid kit.

* * *

Emily sat on the toilet as Peter cleaned the cuts and placed an ice pack on her face.

"Where are Drax, Rocket, and Groot?" He asked, keeping the ice pack on the girl's face as she pointed in the direction of the sitting area where her older sister was, "How much pain are you in?" He added, holding up a series of pain meds with his other hand.

"Like I was hit by a truck." She said bitterly, groaning as Peter applied more pressure to the ice pack, picking up her hand and replacing his with hers so he could give her the pain medicine before he got up and went back to Gamora's room to see she was now sitting on Lilith's bedside stroking the child's light hair.

"I promise we're not going to let anyone hurt you ever again. You'll be back with your mother and father soon." She said softly, giving Lilith a kiss on her pale forehead.

Peter smiled at the two of them as Gamora continued to stroke Lilith's hair before she finally noticed Peter in the open doorway.

"How long have you been standing there?" She asked accusingly, almost glaring at him.

Almost.

"Only a few minutes. I had to take care of Emily's injuries." He answered, shrugging.

The ex assassin only nodded in response as she turned her attention back to Lili.

"Has anyone ever told you that you'd be a great mother?" He asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the door frame.

"I don't see how I would be. It's my fault that Nebula took her in the first place."

Peter sighed, "No, it's not. It could have happened to anyone. You, Emily, Maria..myself...anyone. And the important part is that Lilith isn't hurt. Or worse." He said, finally moving to sit beside her and put an arm around her shoulders.

Gamora sighed, about to say something else when an angry voice stopped her.

"Peter! I'm going to kill you!"

Peter sighed for the umpteenth time that day before speaking. He didn't expect for Maria to come around so soon.

"Sounds like Maria's awake."

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)**


	16. Games

**A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in awhile, I've been working on another fanfiction, which is about Gamora. On her period. And that has been very fun to write xD. Any who, here's the next chapter. There's a little fun in this chapter, you'll learn a little bit more about Emily. Possibly Maria as well. Enjoy!**

Peter spent nearly an hour being chewed out by Maria. Gamora stood off to the side with her arms crossed with Drax, Rocket, and Groot not daring to intervene while Emily sat on the couch holding the ice pack to her face. Yondu and the few Ravagers that helped rescue Lilith felt awkward and left to go back to their ship although they offered to bring them back to their ship themselves.

When they saw Maria and Peter almost yelling at each other, they declined.

"You were going to give yourself up to Nebula and Thanos!" Peter yelled, starting to get pissed off at the agent.

"Yes, but that was my decision! Not yours!" She snapped, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him.

"They would kill you if it meant getting that damn necklace! Did you see what Nebula alone did to Gamora?" He started, pointing at his girlfriend, "Imagine what they could do to you. A simple Terran! People like you and me? We're not like them! We're not like the Asgardians, not like Xandarian' break much easier than they do!"

Maria scoffed. Same old Maria that he met five years earlier. The agent still thought she was indestructible, despite many near death experiences.

"It still isn't your call." She said coldly, her glare not wavering.

"Oh yeah? Well, how about you think about the people you care about? How would Steve feel if you did that? Your brother and his wife? Your dad and Emily?" Peter asked, nodding his head at Emily, who was still holding the ice pack to her jaw.

"Don't ever bring any of them into this! I don't bring your own family into this, do I? No!" She yelled, crossing her arms.

"I hate to intrude, but unless you want to deal with a cranky four-year-old, I suggest you either end the argument or take it else where." Gamora said, finally growing tired of their fight.

Maria just huffed and went into the kitchenette, grabbing a bottle of vodka and pouring it into a shot glass as the Milano took off from Titan.

"Hey, I have an idea. Since the kids asleep, let's play a drinking game." Rocket said, sitting down at the table.

Maria glared, "Oh? And what did you have in mind?"

"Never have I ever?" Peter asked, talking for Rocket as he grabbed more shot glasses and everyone else sat down.

"I am Groot." Groot said disapprovingly, wanting no part in the drinking game as he went and retreated to his and Rocket's room.

"So, here are the rules. You say something that you've never done, starting with the line, 'Never have I ever...' and finish the sentence. If you have done it, then you take a shot." He explained as he filled everyones glass, even Emily's.

"I guess i'll go first then. I know how this game works, " Maria started, sighing, "Never have I ever gotten into a physical altercation with a blind man." She added, smirking as Emily glared at her.

"That was one time dude! Fuck you!" She said, taking a shot.

"You got into a physical fight with a blind man?" Rocket asked, laughing.

"That doesn't seem fair. He is blind, which means he cannot see. Correct?" Gamora asked, frowning at the teen.

"Oh, this was no ordinary blind man! He's a lawyer in this part of New York that isn't very safe to say the least. He's only a lawyer during the day time hours though."

"What the hell does he do at night? I don't know about you, but I sleep at night."

"I'm not at liberty to say what he and his assassin girlfriend do at night. I found out by accident though."

Maria looked at Emily, "You find out a lot of things on accident."

Emily sighed, "Anyway, I go to school in Harlem and I was barely sixteen. Funny though, Peter, Gwen, and MJ actually used to go to school in Queens, but they followed me to Harlem. Yeah. They stalked me. However, that day they couldn't walk home with me because they had to stay after school and Maria called this guy, Matt, and asked if he had the time, to follow me home from school. I noticed he was following me so I ducked into an alley, confronted him, we fought, and the rest is history. His girlfriend used to hate me. I'll explain that part later."

"How did Maria meet him?" Gamora asked, everyone nodding in agreement.

"He got on SHIELD's radar a few years back and needless to say, we were very interested in him." She explained, shrugging.

"My turn! Never have I ever thrown an inanimate object at someone."

Maria, Gamora, and Rocket all took a shot.

"Let me guess, Maria, this person was Stark?"

Maria shook her head, "No. It was Steve believe it or not."

Emily started laughing, "Oh my God! I remember that! Poor Steve was so confused!"

"Am I the only one who wants to hear the story behind this?" Peter asked, raising an eye brow at the sister's.

"All I remember is that Steve was being an ass to Maria. They had been fighting for two days leading up to it. He just wouldn't listen to her and he got up to walk away and Maria took a plate off the coffee table and threw it at him and when he looked at her, she yelled; '_Now sit your star spangled ass down!'_ and pointed to the couch. The rest is history." Emily explained, laughing.

"I didn't yell, '_sit your star spangled ass down!_' I yelled, '_Captain Rogers, sit your patriotic ass down!_' which is far less offensive. Just putting that out there."

"Damn! What did the guy do to piss you off that much?" Rocket asked, smirking at her as the other guardians finished laughing.

"Honestly I can't even remember. It was so long ago and it was over something so stupid, it's gone from my memory."

"I once threw a wine bottle at Peter." Gamora said, shrugging as she leaned back in her seat.

"Okay then, my turn! Never have I ever hitch hiked. For those that don't know, it's when you catch rides with random strangers to get somewhere." Peter said, refilling three of the shot glasses.

Maria and Emily took a shot.

"Oh wow." Rocket said, facepalming at how alike the two were.

"Oh but when I do it I get grounded!" Emily said, crossing her arms and glaring at Maria.

"Well, Em, i'm also ten years older than you and I had other people with me."

"I would very much like to hear this story." Drax said, looking at the teen in interest.

"Maria, Dad, Danny, and all the Avengers and their spouses and Jace and Lilith were all camping and stuff and I missed her. I was left at home with Anna, my siser-in-law, and Ryder, my now eight month old nephew, and everyone was in Florida. I grabbed my backpack and hitch hiked all the way to Florida until I arrived at a rest stop just passed the 'welcome to Florida' sign and grabbed a taxi the rest of the way. I had already met Natasha and Clint several years earlier, so they weren't surprised when they saw me. But, I hadn't met anyone else, not even Steve. I don't know why, but..." Emily said, trailing off.

"Because you were always with friends when Steve and I came around for a visit with Danny and Anna. Anna called me up that day freaking out, so we grounded her when we got back to New York."

"Nothing phases you, Emily."

"Yeah, Drax, I know. I've got a 'fuck everything' type of attitude."

Maria turned and got a good look at her sister, "Oh yeah, Nebula hit you. Isn't that the same place I hit you?" Maria asked, earning strange looks from everyone else.

"You hit me? More like punched me! You've got a good right hook that's for sure. However, when you hit me, the bruise didn't make it painful to talk. I took pain pills so these plus the alcohol is doing wonders for the pain," She said, finally noticing everyones confused looks, "Oh, Maria lost it and hit me because I told a certain someone a certain something. She ran off and no one could find her. I found her at dawn the next morning and she looked like hell."

"Keep your mouth shut then. If I keep secrets from him it's for a good reason." Maria said coldly, and everyone just gave her more confused looks.

"Never have I ever fallen asleep drunk in random places." Rocket said, changing the subject as he didn't want to see the two sisters fight. Fights between sisters can literally turn deadly. Emily's smile dropped when he said that and she took a shot.

"Do we want to know?" Drax asked as Peter took a shot.

"I have a habit of falling asleep drunk in alley's and end up waking up in Matt's apartment. This is actually where the story of Elektra hating me comes in."

"Given your track record with men, I don't blame you. How did you end up in Hell's Kitchen?"

Emily shrugged, "I'm always invited to parties down there for some reason. But yeah, Elektra and I actually got drunk together and the rest is history. Oh, the morning after that, I was confused because I didn't know how I got there, and Matt goes, "You drove. You were actually a little drunk when you arrived." and yeah. Not my finest moment."

"Ha! Nice!" Peter said, giving her a high five.

"Yeah. Abby, a girl who's like a year younger than me, lives with them and had the same response. I cut back on how much I party now and I drink water at most parties now...unless it's a holiday."

"But the drinking age on Terra is twenty-one, is it not? You are sixteen." Drax said, looking at her confused. Emily said nothing as she reached into her back pocket of her jeans, taking out a plastic card with her name, picture, date of birth, and other information. Obviously fake.

"Fake ID." She said, about to put it back when Maria snatched it out of her hands. Emily was about to respond, but her sister stopped her.

"You can have it back when you turn twenty-one and learn to drink responsibly."

"I take it you did not know of her fake ID?" Gamora asked, crossing her arms as Maria just nodded her head in response.

"Maria, you look so done right now! Your face says it all!" Peter said, laughing when he noticed the agents 'i'm so done with this crap' look on her face.

"Oh God. She totally does!"

Maria sighed, "I should've followed through with my threat to put you up for adoption when you were seven."

Everyone ignored her comment and kept playing the game until they were all laughing like drunk idiots.

"Never have I ever had sexual relations in a public place." Gamora said, barely able to get her sentence out before she broke down laughing when everyone except her and Maria took a shot.

"In the bathroom of a church. When I was fourteen." Emily said, laughing at everyone's facial expressions.

"Hey Star Dork! I found the female version of you!" Rocket said, pointing at Emily.

"You really did not need to clarify." Drax said as Groot finally came into the room, sighing and shaking his head at the group.

"I am Groot."

"Why a church?" Peter asked, looking just as confused and weirded out as Drax.

"I don't know. Looking back, i'm not proud of it. I have more respect for myself and other places now. I believe in God too! So now it's awkward whenever I walk into a damn church!" She answered, shrugging.

"Well, I think I have had enough for tonight. I am going to bed." Drax said, getting up and heading to his room.

Everyone one by one started to disperse.

"We should go to bed too. Come on." Peter whispered, wrapping an arm around Gamora and helping her to his room seeing as Lilith currently occupied Gamora's.

They walked into his room to see the child in question curled up with Gamora's blankets on the floor next to Peter's bed.

Gamora stumbled over to the child and shook her awake, trying to act as sober as possible as to not frighten her.

"Lilith, why are you in here?" She asked when the little girl looked at her.

"I had a nightmare and you were busy. So I came in here to sleep. When my Mommy and Daddy aren't around, I usually sleep with Auntie Maria and Uncle Steve," Lilith explained tiredly, "Can I go night night with you? I don't wanna sleep alone."

Gamora felt sympathetic for Lilith. The poor child was completely unaware that Maria and Emily were on the ship.

The Zehoberi looked at Peter, who nodded.

"I suppose. Why don't you sleep in bed with us? or Peter can carry the mattress in from my room. It has to be more comfortable than the floor, hm?"

Lilith nodded and Gamora picked her up, the child still wrapped in the blankets and placed her in the bed and she was back to sleep in no time, curled into Gamora's side.

"You know, my compliment from earlier hasn't changed."

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :) **

**The faster you review, the faster I update :D**


	17. Back to Earth

**A/N: Hey guys! So, here's the next chapter! I hope y'all like it.**

Peter awoke the next morning with a headache that made him feel as though someone hit him over the head with an inanimate object. To make things worse, someone was jumping on him and shaking him in an attempt to wake him up.

"Wake up! Wake up! It's time for breakfast!" A small voice shouted.

Peter just groaned and buried his face in his pillow, which made the small child get off of Peter and off the bed. He could hear her open and close the door and her footsteps fade before he heard it again and the door opened once more, and this time, Lilith hit him with a pillow.

"Okay! I'm up! You have my attention, kid." He said, turning to look at her as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

Lilith was in one of Peter's t-shirts that was more of a dress on her since it was really the only thing they had that would fit her. Gamora was awake at this point upon hearing all the commotion.

"Alright then. We might as well get you ready. We'll be back on Earth soon." She said, sighing as she got out of bed and lead the little girl to the bathroom to get her ready as Peter also got up to leave the bedroom, heading to the kitchen to see that everyone else was wide awake and hungover.

"I'm amazed that we're all so hungover. We weren't acting drunk or drinking that much at all." He said as he started to make breakfast.

"What time did we go to bed?" Emily asked, holding a new ice pack to her face.

"A little after two in the morning." Maria answered, shrugging and taking Emily's ice pack and holding it to her head.

"What's the matter with you? It's just a hangover!" Rocket said, taking the icepack and giving it back to Emily.

"My heads been killing me the last few days." She said, making herself a cup of tea and taking the icepack back.

"Says a lot about your drinking."

Maria glared at Rocket an pushed him to the ground with her foot.

"It's not my drinking. I rarely drink." She said, sighing as she sat back down with her tea.

"You kicked me!"

"I am Groot." Groot said, frowning at the Raccoon.

"What! I was out of line!?"

Peter sighed and handed a plate of food to Maria. Well, he tried to, anyway.

"I'm not hungry." She said, taking the plate and handing it to Emily.

"Maria..." Emily said in a warning tone.

"What? I'm not hungry. You can't make me eat if i'm not hungry."

"But_"

"Drop it, Emily." She said, sighing in annoyance as Gamora and Lilith came into the kitchen.

"Auntie 'Ria! Auntie Em!" Lilith squealed, magnifying everyones headaches ten fold as she flung herself at them.

"What? Did ya just think it was you and these guys?" Emily asked, picking the little girl up.

"Yes. She did." Drax said, sitting down.

Emily gasped, "No! We were here to help!"

Lilith put a hand on the bruise on Emily's jaw before turning to Maria.

"Why is Auntie Em hurt?"

"She had a bit of an accident." Maria said, taking Lilith from Emily's arms and setting her down beside Drax.

* * *

It was not long until the ship landed back on the roof of the tower where Steve was waiting for them.

"Uncle Steve!" She squealed, running to the super soldier and hugging him around his legs.

"So, aside from being kidnapped, how'd you like space?" He asked, picking her up with one arm and putting the other arm around Maria as they began to decend down the stairwell to the tower's top floor and he looked at Emily.

"What happened to you?" He asked, only for Emily to walk ahead of them muttering something unintelligible under her breath.

"Is she on her monthly cycle?" Gamora asked, just as confused as everyone else.

"Isn't she always?" Maria asked as they entered the 23rd floor and Lilith set her sights on her parents.

"Mommy! Daddy!" She yelled, struggling to get out of Steve's grip.

Steve put her down and she ran to her parents.

"Did you miss me?" Lilith asked, wrapping her arms around her mothers neck.

"Of course we did Lilith! It's been very quiet around here without our little girl." Clint said, taking her into his own arms and giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"You never answered my question, Lilith."

"I had a blast in space! Peter's ship is so cool! He let me sit on his lap and fly it. We played lots of fun games too!" Lilith quipped, giggling.

"Oh yeah, Lilith, what's this we hear about you saying bad words?"

Lilith looked confused as she looked at Steve.

"Lilith Rose Barton. Are you saying bad words?" Natasha asked, giving her daughter a look.

"No. I say no bad words, mama. I'm a good girl."

"Then what's this about you having an attitude?" Peter asked, raising an eyebrow at the little girl.

"All I told that Nebula lady was that her daddy didn't like her as much as Gammy because Gammy's better than her. And that no one likes her very much." Lilith explained, shrugging as everyone covered their mouths to keep from laughing.

"So, you repeated no bad words that you heard from us?"

Lili shook her head, "No mama."

Maria sighed, "So, anyway, where are the others." She asked, crossing her arms as Clint put the four-year-old down.

"They're at the main base. Fury told me and Clint to come back and be here when all of you came back."

"Where's Auntie Pepper and my other aunties?"

"Well, they're with some of Fury's...friends in upstate New York. They'll be back when all of this is over," Clint started, sighing, "You're actually going to go stay with Maria's brother and Anna along with baby Ryder."

"But why?" She asked, looking at all the adults in the room, knowing that something was wrong.

"Because it isn't safe here. Not at the moment."

"But but but..." Lilith started, her voice cracking as her lips started to tremble and her icy blue eyes glistened with unshed tears at the thought of leaving her parents.

"Hey now. Don't cry." Steve said, kneeling down to Lilith's height.

"But I don't wanna go. Please don't send me away, Uncle Steve." She begged, the tears spilling down her pale face.

Everyone hated seeing Lilith this upset. Natasha had to actually look away when her young daughter looked at her and Emily had to leave the room and go to the kitchen. Even the guardians hated to see the tears. Even Rocket, who now looked at Lilith with sympathy.

"It's not our decision, Lilith. Nick and Phil both believe that you'll be safer with them until everything blows over. It'll only be for a couple of days." Steve said, brushing a strand of blonde hair out of Lilith's face.

"Promise?"

"Yes, sweetheart. Fury and Coulson gave their word." Clint told her, also kneeling down to his daughters height.

Lilith shrugged, "Okay. I guess it's okay then."

"Good girl. Now, why don't you come with me and your mommy to pack some clothes so Steve can bring you to meet Anna?"

"Why aren't you and mommy bringing me?" She asked, looking at her parents suspiciously. Lilith was many things but she wasn't stupid.

"Well, Nick believes it'd be safer and less conspicuous if Steve brought you." Maria answered, sighing.

"But why?"

"Well, Steve isn't technically a SHIELD agent. Does that make sense?"

Lilith nodded and her father picked her up and they brought her to their floor to pack some clothes. Everyone just sighed in relief when Lilith didn't put up anymore of a fight than she already had.

Peter coughed, "Well, that went better than expected."

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)**

**The faster you review, the faster I update :)**


	18. New Plans

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's the next chapter, not much really goes on in this chapter, sorry. Enjoy.**

Steve and Lilith sat at starbucks an hour later waiting for Maria's sister-in-law, Anna, to show up. The child was oddly quiet, which wasn't like her at all and usually she was talking a mile a minute and everyone had to tell her to calm down.

"Uncle Steve?" She asked quietly, getting up and walking over to him.

"Hm?" He asked, picking her up and setting her on his lap, keeping a firm but gentle grip on her.

"Is Auntie 'Ria okay? She seems sad. Did you get into a fight?"

The fact that Lilith knew that Maria was upset said a lot. Ever since the fight with her father, even before then, she had seemed increasingly distressed. Usually she was all cool and collected, but when she was upset about something, she was unpredictable. Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before she blew up. Before he could even get a word out, a woman who seemed to be in her early thirties with long, brown hair holding a baby carrier entered the shop.

"Hello, Steve, how are you?" She asked, taking a seat across from him and setting the carrier down on the ground. Anna was a part time police officer whereas Danny, Maria's brother and Anna's husband was a full time officer. At this moment in time, she usually left Ryder, who was sound asleep in his carrier, with John or Emily, but since neither were available, she had to bring him everywhere that day.

"I'm good. Yourself?"

"Good. And Lilith, how are you today?" She asked, giving the little girl a kind smile as she brushed a gentle hand along Lilith's cheek.

"Good. I guess." She answered, sighing and looking away from the older woman.

"Ready to go? We're going to have so much fun over the next couple of days. We can bake cookies, and you can be my little helper to take care of Ry. How does that sound?" Anna asked, and Lilith reluctantly nodded and got off Steve's lap.

"Tell Danny I said hi," He said, giving the woman and baby a friendly smile before kneeling down to Lilith's height, "Be a good girl for Anna, alright? You're going to be her little helper and if at any point you miss us and want to talk, feel free to have her call us."

"Okay Uncle Steve." She said, giving him a hug before taking Anna's hand.

"We'll see you soon. Tell Maria that we hope she feels better."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Steve asked, standing up and facing the woman.

"Last week when I last saw her. She was so stressed out with everything that's going on that it's making her sick."

Steve only nodded and Anna left, making Steve sigh and call Maria.

_"Yes Steve?"_ She answered, sounding as though she had just woken up from a nap.

"How'd you know it was me?"

_"You know, Steve, there's this great thing called caller ID,"_ She answered, laughing, _"How'd it go?"_

"Pretty good. She went without a fight. How are Natasha and Clint?"

_"Taking it pretty hard. Can't say I blame them though. They just got her back only to lose her again. They're at the store now, trying to take their mind off it."_

Steve sighed, "Yeah, well, it's not forever. Have you guys figured out what to do in regards to Nebula and Thanos?" He asked, leaving the coffee shop and walking to his car.

_"No, unfortunately."_

"Well, the only way we can possibly beat her is if someone wears that necklace."

There was silence on the other line

_"Steve, you just gave me an idea."_

"Uh huh. So anyway, what's this that Anna tells me about making yourself sick?"

_"Steve, I would really love to chat, but you just gave me an idea! I love you!"_

Steve couldn't even get another word out before the line went dead.

* * *

Maria walked into the kitchen where the guardians were sitting down talking.

"So, Steve and I were talking and...no Emily i'm not!" Maria said before her sister could get a word out of her mouth and Maria gave her a pointed look.

"What was the kid about to say?" Rocket asked, looking from Maria to Emily.

"She's hoping the words that come out of my mouth are 'I am pregnant.' but that's not gonna happen for awhile," Maria said, sighing, "Anyway, Steve and I were talking and decided that the only way to beat Nebula and Thanos at their own game is if someone wears the necklace."

"But the only person who can even wear it is Gamora."

"No, Maria is strong enough to wear it too." Emily said, pointing at her sister, "I'd wear it, but the last time didn't go too well." She added, shrugging.

"Wait...you wore it?" Drax asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. It was too powerful for me. Memories from my childhood came back and hit me full force and there was like a voice in my head telling me to kill my family. It scared the shit out of me and I spent three days in jail until it stopped."

"So it can also work like a mind control device almost?"

"If you can't handle it, then yes." Gamora answered.

"So, this is the plan. Maria is going to wear the necklace and Emily is going to play bait. Nebula will force Emily to take her to SHIELD and she'll open the safe and it won't be there, but Maria will be wearing it." Peter answered, an arm around Gamora as he explained it.

"I am Groot."

"Groots right. She'll know something is up when no one is in the tower."

"Life model decoys." Was all Maria said, yawning, "Now that that is all taken care of, i'm going to go to bed."

"But we have not had dinner yet." Gamora said, looking at Maria suspiciously.

"I had something earlier!" She called, disappearing into the elevator.

"She's lost weight."

"Totally has."

"I am Groot."

"Oh come on, guys! She's stressed and it's taking a toll on her body." Emily answered, defending her sister.

"I am Groot."

"Groot is right, kid. It ain't healthy." Rocket told Emily as Natasha and Clint came in with bags full of ingredients.

However, they waited until the rest of the Avengers arrived back to tell them the plan and surprisingly, they were all on board with it. For the most part. They just needed a plan for in case Maria experiences what Emily did when she wore it and something told them that she wouldn't like spending three days in jail.

All they had to do was wait.

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review because the faster you review, the faster I update :)**


	19. Kidnapped

**A/N: Hey guys! I apologize if this chapter is kind of short. It's late.**

Emily sat at a picnic table with her friend, Peter the next evening. It was getting late and not a soul was in sight as it was cold and starting to snow, and Emily hated the winter. Well, she liked winter until she got her license that is.

"You sure about this plan?" Peter asked, concerned for his friends safety.

Emily nodded, "Yeah. I'll be fine though. Everyone took into account every bad thing that could happen." She answered, shrugging.

"Yeah, but_"

"Look, Peter, I have to go. I'll talk to you later." She said, cutting him off as she grabbed her things and left him at the table as she began to walk back to the tower, unaware that someone was watching her every move.

* * *

Emily got back to the tower to see that everyone was sitting at the kitchen table.

"What's wrong?" She asked, putting her stuff down when she approached.

"We got director Fury and Coulson in on the plan. It wasn't easy though." Peter said, sighing.

"There's something else, isn't there?"

"I am Groot."

"Nebula was spotted earlier today," Bruce started, about to continue when Gamora stepped in.

"She's been watching you, Emily."

"And what does that mean? Should I be scared?" She asked, looking around at everyone.

"Of course not. It simply means that_" Drax started, but Steve cut him off.

"It means that the plan will start much sooner than we anticipated."

Everyone was pretty surprised that Steve seemed alright with the plan when they had told him about it. It wasn't easy to get him to agree to some plans if it involved putting anyone in danger, but he probably knew that it was an argument that he wouldn't win.

"I'll set the life model decoys up." Tony said, getting up and leaving the kitchen.

"Don't suppose you've got life model decoys for us, huh?" Rocket asked in curiosity.

"Nope." Natasha and Clint answered simultaneously as they also got up to follow the billionaire.

"Where's Maria?"

_"Miss Hill is at SHIELD. She said she had urgent matters that needed to be addressed."_ JARVIS answered her.

"So, i'm basically gonna be stuck in the tower with the life model decoys until someone comes to kidnap me?" She asked, not in the least bit joking.

"Yes, lady Emily, but it is very important that you act frightened."

"He's right. If you're calm, she'll know something is up." Peter agreed as the guardians all got up to follow everyone else out of the tower.

"Well it's a good thing that I took acting classes!" She called, only to be greeted by silence.

This was going to be a long night.

* * *

The teen awoke later that night to a sharp object pressed against the side of her neck. It was cold and sharp, and Emily knew it was a blade of some kind. She looked around the room, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness before her sights were finally set on Nebula, who had been the one holding the blade. To say she was scared was an understatement. She was terrified.

Although a little bit of it was fake, but she had a small percentage of actual terror in her.

"Get up!" She snapped, not bothering to keep her voice down.

Emily didn't need to be told twice as she clumsily got out of bed.

"Put on your shoes." She ordered, and Emily put on her best pair of running shoes, fumbling with the laces and tying them as fast as she could.

The assassin roughly grabbed her, pressing the blade to her back as they left the bedroom and used the elevator to descend to the lobby.

"Which one is yours?" Nebula asked once they were outside, pointing to the line of cars parked outside the tower.

The cold November air was biting at Emily's face and her bare arms and legs. It probably wasn't the best decision to wear shorts and a tank top to bed. Hell, she should've at least put on a coat before leaving with Nebula.

"The silver one. The Prius." Emily said, and Nebula urged her forward, letting the girl get into the drivers side of the car.

"Where are we going?" She asked, pretending to be clueless.

"Take me to SHIELD. To the necklace." She ordered, and Emily put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb.

"Are you going to kill me?"

Nebula sighed, "I do not know. Haven't decided yet."

The rest of the ride was silent after that, and Nebula now held the blade to Emily's side. Not exactly safe to drive with a knife pressed to your throat.

"You know, I need help with a decision."

Emily gulped, "A decision for what?"

"How I will dispose of Gamora," She started, and Emily opened her mouth to speak, only for Nebula to stop her, "Or perhaps I'll leave my traitorous sister alone and decide how to dispose of your sister. Thoughts?" She asked, smirking at how scared and nervous Emily got at the mention of Maria.

"I-I would advise leaving our sisters...and myself...alone."

"And why is that?"

"B-Because. Steve is very protective of me and my older sister. Much like how Peter is over Gamora. If you attack me or Maria, then you're attacking him and he'll take it personally. If you attack Gamora, then Peter takes it personally. It's a lose-lose situation." She explained as they pulled up outside SHIELD's head quarters.

"Hm. Then I guess I will dispose of them first."

Emily almost laughed, but decided against it since she had a knife still pressed to her brachial artery. She and Nebula got out of the silver Prius and the woman shoved her in front, now pressing the knife to Emily's back as they entered the building.

It was eerily quiet as they walked through the halls, not an agent in sight. Not unusual since it was a little past three in the morning, but the agents that were there had been given a heads up by Fury to leave the area as soon as they saw Nebula and Emily walk through those doors.

"Where is it?"

"There's a room full of safes where they put things before they send them away to be destroyed."

Nebula pushed her forward once more and they continued walking through the base until they came to a room at the end of a hall.

"Open it."

Emily punched in a code that she remembered seeing Maria use several times and the door opened to reveal a fairly large rooms with safes along the walls. Well, built in to the walls. The lights turned on when they stepped in, and Emily disabled the alarm that was right next to the door, attached to the wall before leading Nebula down the row of safes.

It reminded her of a morgue in a sense, but she would never voice that opinion out loud as they stopped at one that was labeled, 'SG-19674B'. She knew that the SG stood for Soul Gem, but not what the numbers and letter stood for. She kneeled down and punched in another code and the safes metal door opened, revealing a smaller, metal, box like safe that she was able to remove.

The teen took it out and punched in yet another code and opened the safe, only to reveal that it was empty.

"Where is it!?" Nebula growled, glaring at the sixteen-year-old.

Emily played dumb, "I-I don't know! I swear!"

Nebula took the knife from the teens back and smacked Emily with such force that it knocked her to the floor, making Emily instinctively cover her head with her arms and curl the rest of her body into the fetal position. The blue woman pulled out her blaster and aimed it at the brunette, about to pull the trigger when a voice stopped her.

"Looking for something, Nebula?"

Nebula turned around to see Maria standing in the open doorway.

She was wearing the necklace.

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)**


	20. Injured

**A/N: So, here's the next chapter everyone. I won't say much except that Maria experiences some not so great side effects of the necklace. Enjoy.**

Nebula looked Maria up and down and then at Emily who was now sitting up right with another bruise along her jaw and a split lip, watching as the two women circled each other, trying to find the others weak spot.

Nebula kicked under Maria's feet, only for the younger woman to dodge the kick. While the two were distracted, Emily inched along the wall towards the light switch, knowing that Maria had better eye sight in the darkness than most agents, but Emily didn't have to.

There were several explosions in the distance that caused the lights to go out unanimously. The alarms were blaring and the emergency lights turned on in the hall way.

Nebula paused, listening for any movement. The whisper of footsteps to her left, making her turn towards them. The assassin lashed out blindly, only for Maria to grab her arm in a tight, bone crushing grip. Something she wouldn't have been able to do if she hadn't been wearing the necklace. The agent kicked Nebula in the stomach with such a force that the other woman flew to the other side of the room.

Maria approached Nebula so fast that Nebula almost didn't have time to react. She shot Maria with her blaster, sending Maria in a heap, sliding across the floor until she hit the lower part of the wall. Hard, but not hard enough.

Pain shot through her entire body as she tried to get up. The woman's head was throbbing and she was dizzy. The room was spinning as she looked around to see Nebula aiming a kick towards her face.

She ducked and rolled to the right to avoid the blow, kicking out her feet and in turn, kicking Nebula's feet right out from under her. The force in which the other woman hit the ground should have knocked her unconscious, but it only left a dent in the floor.

Maria took this moment to get up and reach for her gun, only to realize that it had fallen out of it's holster when Nebula blasted her. Nebula decided to take Maria's distraction as a chance to reach her leg up and kick Maria in the face and kicking her in the stomach with her other leg. When Maria hit the ground, Nebula took this chance to grab Maria's gun and aimed it at her.

"Get up!" Nebula snapped, aiming the weapon at the agents head.

Emily could hear the sound of fighting from where she now stood at the doorway, helplessly watching as Maria put her arms up in surrender and got into a kneeling position, knowing that it wouldn't be wise to do anything with the other having the upper hand.

The blue woman circled Maria, the gun still pointed at her.

"It really is a shame that you took the child back. She would have made an exceptional assassin. Would have made my father proud," She started, her gaze moving to Emily, "Or perhaps even your sister. She's an exceptional fighter. But he simply will not do. Not made to fight. He's simply nothing more than a shield. You know who i'm talking about? The one Emily speaks highly of? The soldier?" Nebula taunted, moving to stand behind Maria, failing to notice Emily leave the room.

At the mention of Steve, Maria's heart started beating a mile a minute.

"Look, you can beat me, torture me, or even kill me and take the stone. But whatever you do, don't touch him," She started, letting out a shaky sigh, "And leave my family-and Lilith-out of this."

Nebula knew she hit a soft spot when she mentioned the child and Emily, but an even softer spot when she mentioned Steve.

"Oh, I will take the necklace. And even the stone inside it, but not until you're begging for me to kill you," She said, moving the gun up to press against Maria's head, "Or maybe i'll save myself the trouble and just kill you now."

Maria closed her eyes, waiting for the blow to come.

But it didn't.

She did, however, hear a loud zapping sound and the gun hit the ground with a clatter, which was accompanied with a loud thud.

The usually cool-headed woman was now on the verge of tears as she turned around to see Coulson standing with Emily, holding a strange looking gun that had a blue glow to it. She had never been so happy to see him than she was in that moment.

"What the hell is that?" She asked as she got up. Her vision was still fuzzy and the dizziness and throbbing in her head seemed to get worse. She had a sense of nausea when she walked towards them, having to grip Emily's shoulder to keep balanced.

"It's a prototype that FitzSimmons are working on. The night night gun."

"We're not actually calling it that, are we?" Emily asked, crossing her arms.

Phil shrugged and left with Maria, who was now sporting bruises on her face with several cuts and pain shot through her body with every step she took. She knew that she had a broken rib or two and a probable concussion. The two of them summoned another agent, and they left Emily and the agent to bring Nebula to the detention level.

Maria and Coulson shot any of Nebula and Thanos' men that got in their way, and each time Maria shot someone, the dizziness and pain got worse and worse.

_Kill him. Kill him now._ A voice in the back of her head kept telling her, and she knew that the necklace was trying to control her. It would be a matter of time before she gave in.

"Maria! Phil!" Steve called, running up to the two agents, "Where's Emily?"

"She's with Agent Somers. They're bringing Nebula to the detention level." Maria slowly responded, earning a look from Coulson.

"How's the battle going? Any casualties?"

"A few. Not very many actually, most of the agents are injured more than anything. We need to calm the other guy down so Bruce can help take care of the injured and_" He started, cutting himself off when he noticed how pale Maria looked, "Are you okay?" He asked, noticing the cuts and bruises.

"Yes..I'm fine." She answered, looking increasingly confused. Her eyes were dilated and the nausea in her stomach was becoming worse.

"No. You're not."

No one was expecting what she would do next. She ran, nearly running into Peter and Gamora as she made her way to the bathroom and tried to push all the thoughts from her head. Trying to stop the necklace from trying to control her.

_Kill everyone. Now._

The difference between what Emily went through with the necklace and what she was going through, she actually was doing pretty good at not giving into the necklace. Emily had been a thirteen-year-old, who was easily influenced at the time. A lot had changed since then.

She kept pushing the thoughts to the back of her head, running into the bathroom and ignoring the pain and dizziness as she locked the door.

* * *

Emily walked up from the detention level as agents frantically rushed around, and she immediately knew that something was wrong when she saw agents crowding around the bathroom..

"Fury! What's going on?" She asked, walking up to the director. The look on his face gave her all she needed to know, "Fury, where's Maria?"

When Fury didn't answer, she turned towards the crowd and started pushing past the crowd of agents.

The sight she saw made her stop in her tracks. Maria was passed out on the bathroom floor, and Steve was kneeling at her side, willing her to wake up. The rest of the Avengers and the guardians stood behind him, not wanting to crowd around Maria incase she were to wake up without warning.

The sixteen-year-old knelt down next to Maria, opposite Steve to check for a pulse. It was there, but barely.

One thing was for certain. If her sister was going to live, she needed to get to a hospital. Maria would die without medical attention.

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review and I shall give you a cookie :)**

**(::) -see?**


	21. Hospitals

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. I have no freaking reason for waiting so long to be honest haha. Anyway, enjoy!**

Everyone was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital three hours later, waiting for the doctor to come back with news of Maria's latest condition. Emily wasn't there since the doctors actually had to bring her to surgery to repair her jaw that was now broken.

"She's going to be fine." Gamora said, trying to comfort Steve as he sat with his head in his hands.

"Should someone call the girls and tell them the situation?" Bruce asked, sitting down beside Peter.

"Already did. They'll be here in a couple hours." Tony said as a young, male doctor came into the waiting room.

"How is she?" Natasha asked, looking at the doctor expectantly.

"Well, the MRI results have come back and she has a mild concussion and two broken ribs. She's also very frail right now. You told me she's been eating very little, correct?"

Everyone nodded.

"Well, as a result of all the stress that she has been under, it's taking a toll on her body. It isn't healthy and that's partly the reason why she lost consciousness. The stress was just too much for her."

"Any idea when she'll wake up?"

"It's hard to tell at this moment in time. Could wake up in a few hours or a few days. Or even as long as a few weeks. She's stable now, but she did cause some problems for the EMT's."

"What do you mean?"

"She woke up on the way here and tried to attack them. It was a brief period of psychosis which they ultimately had to sedate her."

"Well, can we see her?" Clint asked, and the doctor nodded and lead them down the hall where Maria was laying in a bed. She looked so weak. She had canula's up her nose and IV's in her hands and one arm was actually handcuffed to the bed. In the other bed, Emily slept soundly.

"Why...?" Drax started, trailing off and looking at the doctor.

"Just precaution. We don't know how she will react when she wakes up."

Steve sighed and pulled up a chair to sit by Maria's bedside, grabbing her hand in his. Seeing Steve about to cry reminded Peter of those times that Gamora was in the hospital and how desperate he had been for her to wake up.

"She'll be alright, my friend." Thor said, putting a comforting hand on Steve's shoulder.

"But what if she's not?"

"Maria's strong. She's resilient."

"I am Groot."

Natasha's phone rang, making her answer it.

"Yeah? Okay, we'll send someone right away." She said, hanging up the phone without waiting for a reply as she turned to the others, "That was Agent Somers. Nebula is waking up and he needs someone to interrogate her."

"I'll do it." Clint said, about to leave when Gamora stopped him.

"No, I will. She won't answer to you but she will most likely answer my questions."

She had a point.

Clint sighed, "Alright, I'll bring you back to the base." He said, nodding to the doorway for Gamora to go first as he gave everyone a curt nod and left the room, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Gamora walked into the interrogation room to see Nebula was thoroughly handcuffed to the table. According to Fury, the handcuffs were so strong that not even Thor would be able to break free of them.

"You nearly killed her," Gamora said, "Why?"

"I wouldn't have been able to get the necklace otherwise."

"Why do you want the Soul Gem so badly?" She asked, crossing her arms and leaning against the wall.

"I need it to get away from our father. You know that." Nebula said, leaning back in her seat.

"Yes, but because of that stunt of yours, there is an agent in critical condition and a traumatized child. Everyone is traumatized. You will be lucky if everyone recovers." She said, glaring at her sister.

"I do not know what you're talking about."

"You threatened an avenger. You threatened all of them. You killed several federal agents and several are in the hospital. On Earth, that is a very severe crime, more so than on Xandar and I'll be damned if my sister has to answer for her crimes on Terra," She answered, raising her voice, "Peter and I will bring you to Xandar first thing tomorrow and then you will answer for your crimes." She added, turning and leaving the room.

* * *

It was several hours later and Emily had finally come around and Maria seemed to be doing better than when she was originally brought to the hospital.

"Hey Steve, pass me Maria's phone." Emily said as she got out of the bed. Her speech was slurred since her jaw was basically wired shut. Steve passed the phone to Emily, who dialed a number as she started to get dressed in the pajamas from the night before.

"Who's she calling?" Rocket asked, looking at the teen.

"Jake."

"Who?"

"Maria's friend from the Marines." Steve said, watching as Emily paced around the hospital room.

_"This is Sergeant Jacob Dawson."_

"Hey Jake. It's Emily."

The man on the other line sounded a bit confused, _"Emily?"_

"Yeah. Sergeant Maria Hill's younger sister."

_"Oh Emily! How ya doing?"_

Emily sighed, "How fast can you get to the hospital?"

_"About two seconds."_ The marine said, confusing Emily.

"What_" She started, only to be cut off by the rooms door opening and a man wearing a black t-shirt and camo pants in his early thirties entering. His dog tags were around his neck.

"How did you...?" She asked, trailing off.

"I'm on leave. I heard about what happened on the news. It's all over the place."

"Hey Jake. Nice to see you again," Steve said, shaking his hand, "How's Amara?"

"She left me. I came back from Iraq and all I found were divorce papers and a note that basically told me I wasn't the same person I was before the armed forces." He answered, sadly shrugging.

"Well tell Amara that she should go overseas and and hurt people then come back and be perfectly fine." A hoarse voice said from his right.

They all turned around to see Maria was wide awake.

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review because they make me happy :)**


	22. War Stories

**A/N: Hey guys! Wanna know what makes me sad? That I'm not getting as many reviews as I was when I first started this story. Don't get me wrong, I love writing for you guys, regardless if I get reviews or not, but the reviews help me know that you guys like my writing and it pushes me to keep going :) what can I do to make this story better? I want your honest opinions, but don't be mean about it. For those that still are reviewing and reading, thanks for sticking with this story! It means a lot to me. Oh and in this chapter, Maria is going to have a flashback. It's the same one from my "Soldiers" one-shot for those that have or haven't read it. If you want to read that one, feel free, but I'm not gonna make you haha.**

**~Meghan (MBrabs1996)**

"Hey Maria. How are you?" Jake asked, pulling up a chair and sitting beside his friend.

"Like that time I got shot three times in one day." She said, painfully sitting up, finally noticing the handcuffs.

"They had to handcuff you because you almost killed a couple paramedics on the way in, and they weren't sure how you would react this time," Steve answered, shrugging as he reached into the bedside table to pull out the key, unlocking the handcuffs.

"How'd you get shot three times in one day?" Emily asked her sister. Clearly she hadn't heard the story. Well, the complete story, anyway.

"Saving a Iraqi little girl is the shortened version." Maria answered, leaning back in bed. That day was still fresh in her mind. It was a day she'd never forget.

* * *

_Sergeant Major Johnson had placed Sergeant Maria Hill and sergeant Jacob Dawson on the rooftops to gun down any potential threats. They got bored and started playing games and asking each other stupid questions and they loved to annoy each other by asking the other embarrassing questions, while Maria was in a lying down position looking through her M110 Semi-Automatic. Everyone thought the pair were romantically involved, when in reality they were just good friends._

_"Oh did I tell you that Emily asked me what sex was last year? How is she by the way?" Jake asked, sitting up against a concrete barrier. He had been with Maria the year before when her older brother called and told her that Emily had been sexually assaulted by their dad's friends, who did it out of revenge. They had done it as a way to get back at Maria, since she had ratted the men out to the police when she was fifteen for sexually abusing her. She never followed through on pressing charges, which was something she ultimately regretted._

_They were on their way home from deployment when Maria, who had been eighteen, had gotten the call. Jake was the only one she told because she was a wreck and he wouldn't leave her alone until she told him._

_Maria didn't answer his question. Instead, she was focusing on something. On the ground about two hundred yards away was a child, no older than four or five on the ground, bleeding._

_"Oh my God. Jake, come with me." She said, getting up and slinging her rifle over her shoulder and grabbing her backpack. Jake got up and followed after her, and almost immediately after leaving the safety of the building they were being shot at. Maria was the first to reach the little girl; picking her up and bringing her inside another abandoned building. She placed the child on the floor in the house, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw the little girl was still breathing._

_She had a head wound and a cut in her side. The Marine reached into her back pack and grabbed the gauze that she always carried with her and tried to stop the bleeding. The child was starting to come around._

_"Ahlan. Mā ismik?" She asked the girl in Arabic, who looked at her with wide brown eyes._

_The little girl hesitated before answering, "Ismee Soraya." She answered, before finally losing consciousness again._

_"What should we do with her?"_

_Maria looked at her friend, her hands now covered in the child's blood._

_They were both thinking the same thing._

_"We can't leave her here. Not in a war zone and the nearest hospital is too far away." She answered, getting up to look at him. Jake was aiming his own M110 out the window, watching Maria's back._

_They both decided to bring the little girl to the camp for medical treatment since it was closer, but both knew that Sergeant Major Johnson, or as they liked to call him, 'sergeant major dickhead' would give them shit for it._

_Maria got up and just as she did, the window on the opposite side of the room broke and a bullet hit her in the chest. It all happened so fast she didn't have time to think before she turned to Jake, trying to get an aim with her own rifle to see who shot her before two more bullets pierced into the middle of her back, sending her to the ground on her stomach._

_"Man down! Sergeant Hill is down!" Jake screamed through his ear piece, rushing to Maria's side._

_Within minutes, two fellow Marines along with a SEAL who had seen Maria and Jake enter the house from another rooftop, came to their aid._

_"Sergeant Reynolds! Help me get Maria to the camp. Private Jameson, grab the child and bring her with us." Jake ordered, slinging one of Maria's arms around his neck while Reynolds did the same with Maria's other arm and both men placed their hands around her waist to help her up._

_"Sergeant Dawson! We can't bring a little girl into a war zone!"_

_"Well the nearest hospital is 30 Kilometers away, got any better ideas, Private?" Jake snapped and Private Jameson grabbed Soraya and the Navy SEAL watched their backs until a vehicle arrived to take Maria back to camp._

_Maria came around a week later in the hospital._

_"Hey Jake...is Soraya alright?" The nineteen-year-old asked, "Did Sergeant Major Johnson give you shit for it?"_

_"No actually. He said we made the right call. The kids parents were dead, so she was placed in an orphanage over there. Since you've been out, I've been working to get her a visa because when the doctors were working on her, she said she wanted to come to America. Said she didn't feel safe in her home country. Can't say I blame her. Oh, she thanks you for saving her by the way. But yeah, she's flying in next month and if my wife says it's alright. We might even adopt her."_

_Maria gave her friend a weak smile, "Hey, was I given an epidural?"_

_"No. Why?" Jake asked, confused._

_"I can't feel my legs."_

* * *

"At first they didn't want to move me. But in the end they had no choice."

"Oh yeah! Weren't you actually paralyzed for a bit too?" Emily asked Maria, who sighed.

"Yes. I couldn't feel my legs as soon as I woke up in the ICU. Took about three weeks to get the feeling back in my legs and once I did get feeling back in my legs, I joined SHIELD. I was in a wheel chair for the first two months though, and when I finally could walk, I could only train. Fury didn't send me on missions for another month or two after that."

"You know, Soraya and my son, Christopher, ask about you a lot."

"Well, Stark is throwing a party on Friday. Bring them." Maria told the Marine, sighing as she sat back up in the bed.

"Oh, speaking of children, when you and Steve adopt Alexa, may I please bring her camping?" Emily asked, giving her sister puppy dog eyes.

"Thanks a lot for ruining it, Emily."

"What? No one else is in here! It's just us and them!" Emily exclaimed, gesturing to Jake, Peter, and Gamora. Pepper, Betty, Jane, Jason, Rocket, Groot, Drax, and Lilith were in the cafeteria with the rest of the Avengers.

"Well, Social Services haven't gotten back to us yet. I'll tell you what Emily, if you can print out the paperwork and get in contact with the social worker, you can take her camping."

"Woah woah woah. You guys are adopting a child?" Peter asked, growing more confused by the minute.

"Story time! So, once upon a time, my Aunt Shawna became a foster mom. She was a great foster mom, treated the kids as though they were her own, but then came Alexa. Treats her worse than dirt and hates our dad, Maria, and myself. She adores Danny and his wife though! So, Maria and Steve are probably going to adopt her over Christmas. Our Aunt Shawna 'accidentally' broke her arm six months ago and when I asked, she was like, "oh the dog jumped on me and I dropped the poor sweetheart!" and then she hung up on me. That was a BS lie because when Maria got broken bones, she gave the same excuses! 'I fell down the stairs.' 'I fell from the top shelf of my closet trying to get my book.' 'I ran into a door.' Get the picture?"

"I'm going to punch her," Maria said, sighing, "She's worse than dad was!"

"I'll hold her down and you can punch." Emily said, completely serious.

"Sounds like a plan. I believe she was Lilith's foster mom at one point too. She treated Lilith bad too."

"Oh Maria, on a scale of one to ten, how mad would you be if I couldn't make it to your wedding?" Jake asked, looking at Maria curiously as he waited for her reaction.

"You're not coming?" She asked coolly.

"I don't know. Sergeant Major Johnson may want me to deploy in the next couple weeks. He may send someone else though."

"Well, tell Sergeant Major dickhead that your best friend that you barely see is getting married, but I understand if you can't come."

"I'll still try to make it. Maybe I'll do like a flyby and parachute in." Jake said jokingly, earning a glare from Maria.

"Do that and I will kill you. Hey Em, how's the phone call coming?"

"Do I really have to be the one to call Alexa's social worker? And do I really have to call Aunt Shawna? She scares me worse than Fury! Why can't you? You're the one that's thinking of adopting her!"

"Okay, first of all, you aren't afraid of Director Fury at all. Secondly, i'm the one in the hospital bed. Lastly, it'll help you with your Social Anxiety along with other issues and if you don't do it, you can't be my maid of honor, because the maid of honor also has to make a speech."

"But_" The teen started, only for Maria to cut her off.

"Did I mention the maid of honor also gets to dance with the best man? And that the best man is Sam?"

At the mention of Sam, Emily immediately got up, grabbed her phone, and left the room, earning a smirk from Maria.

"But seriously, Jake, if Gamora and I are coming to the wedding, you should at least try to make it." Peter said, his arms around Gamora's waist as she sat on his lap. Peter nuzzled her neck with his nose, and Maria threw something at them.

"No porn in the hospital!"

**A/N: I just had to put that part in lol. Let me know what y'all think! Please review? And I'm gonna do something new. It's called ATW or "Ask The Writer" meaning that you can ask anything you want to get to know me in the reviews, or via PM if it's personal (don't make them too personal) and I'll either reply via PM or in an authors note at the beginning of each chapter.**


	23. John

**A/N: So, here's the next chapter. Hope y'all like it. Enjoy.**

The small group sat in Maria's hospital room, just catching up while waiting for the others to come up from the cafeteria. Jakes phone was blowing up with texts, presumably from his daughter or his soon-to-be ex wife.

"Who's texting you?"

"My daughter. She's asking about you. You really hurt them when you just upped and left. The kids and I woke up the day you moved here and found you and Emily gone. I actually didn't think I would see you again. I thought the next time I saw you, you'd be dead." Jake answered, quickly answering all his texts.

"Yeah, she has a habit of doing that?" A voice said from the doorway, making everyone look up to see Maria's brother and Coulson standing in the doorway.

"Danny? Where's dad?" Emily asked, raising an eyebrow at her older brother.

"He came while you two were still asleep. He thinks he'll make things worse, especially that little episode a few days ago. Anna is trying to get him to come see you, but no such luck."

Maria and Emily's facial expressions dropped as Danny said that, and the only one who seemed to notice was Gamora. Their dad missed out on enough in their lives as it was, nor had he really been there for them when they were in the emergency room as children. Although to be fair, Maria was in the emergency room on his account as a child, and now this was his chance to prove he cared.

Gamora got up and quickly left the room, Peter following and calling after her. When he finally did catch up to her, she was waiting for an elevator.

"What's wrong? You just ran out of there without saying anything." He asked out of breath.

"It's all my fault."

"What's your fault? That Maria and Emily ended up in the hospital? We all knew there was a possibility that they'd get hurt."

"No, it's not that. Maria and Emily already have a bad relationship with their father, and it's because of us it's getting worse." She said, raising her voice ever so slightly.

"So your plan is to just go to his place? Think that's a good idea?"

"What choice do I have? Are you coming with me?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Do you even know where he lives?"

"I can bring you." A voice said from behind them.

Steve.

"You're not going to stay with Maria?" Peter asked, confused. Since they had arrived, since Steve got back from that mission a few days earlier, he hadn't left Maria's side, he often stayed with her like a lost puppy. Maria had explained that it was because Steve had lost a lot of important people in his life, which is why she sometimes let his clingy behavior slide.

To be fair, Maria could be just as clingy to Steve as he was to her, but they knew when to give each other some space.

It reminded Peter of his and Gamora's relationship, and he knew when to give Gamora some space as well. Especially if she was angry about something.

"She got sick of me."

"Sick of you as in she doesn't want to marry you, or sick of you as in she's sick of you doting on her and asking a million questions?" Peter asked, half joking.

"The second one. I don't want a repeat of the last time she asked me to leave her alone and I didn't listen."

"Sounds like Peter needs to take some tips on listening to his girlfriend from you." Gamora said, giving Peter a side glare, "So will you bring us?"

Steve sighed, "I suppose."

* * *

They got to John's place less than fifteen minutes later, knocking on the door of the older mans apartment until he answered. He looked as though he had lost weight since they last saw him, which wasn't too long ago. He had bags under his eyes, probably from not getting enough sleep, and his greying dark hair was unkempt.

"Steve...and what's their faces, come in."

"Oh, you didn't officially get to meet them. This is Gamora and Peter."

"Nice to meet the two of you, and I apologize for my behavior a few days ago. Could I interest you three in some coffee?" He asked, only for the trio to shake their heads in response. John sighed and looked at Steve, "What can I do for you, son?"

Peter found it a tad bit funny that John was calling Steve 'son' even though Steve was older than him. He just didn't look it.

"Actually, it was Gamora that wanted to speak with you." Steve said, giving Gamora a nod as his way of telling her to start talking.

"You've upset Emily and Maria. When Daniel told them that you would not be back to visit them, it hurt them deeply. If you do care about them as much as you say you do, you'd have waited for them to wake up."

John sighed, "For your information, I had a doctors appointment, to talk with my doctor about my blood test. I didn't know she and Emily were even in the hospital until Steven called and told me. I just stopped by on my way out, and I was going to visit them when they got out of the hospital."

"Why'd you go to the hospital to see a doctor? Are you sick?" Gamora asked curiously.

John hesitated, "What about you, Gamora? Do you have kids? What's your relationship with your father like?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Don't change the subject. You are sick, aren't you?" Steve asked, noticing that Gamora got a grave look in her eyes at the mention of kids or Thanos.

"Yes. Acute Myeloid Leukemia. I went to the doctor because I was bruising easily, getting weird rashes, swollen lymphnodes, weight loss and loss of appetite. I used to be a doctor and knew that those were clear signs of leukemia. I went a couple weeks ago for tests, and went back today to have it confirmed," He explained, leading them into the kitchen and sitting down at the table, "That's why I said all those things to Maria. I'm trying to distance myself to make my passing less painful. I doubt she'll even miss me a little, if at all. She and Emily don't know. Only Daniel and Annabella know and I intend to keep it that way."

"You can't just keep something like this from your daughters. Yes they're stressed, but they'll be even more stressed and distraught when they find out their dad died of cancer and he didn't tell them," Peter explained, raising his voice, "Most parents actually want their kids closer to them in their final days, weeks, months, however long you have left. They don't try and push them away!" Peter snapped, turning and leaving the apartment with Gamora following closely behind.

John sighed, "Steve, I don't ask for much, but i'm asking you this: please do not tell Maria and Emily. I'm not ready to break it to them."

"You do realize that you're asking me to lie, right? John, I can't lie. Least of all to Maria."

"I know. You suck at lying."

Steve sighed and just nodded, "Fine, but i'm giving you until next week to tell them. If you don't tell them, then I will. That's a promise," He started, sighing, "Stark is throwing a party on Friday. It starts at five o' clock sharp. You should come."

* * *

Gamora sat behind Peter's seat in Steve's truck.

"Are you alright, Peter?" She asked quietly.

Peter let out a shaky sigh, "No, Gamora. I'm not. My mother spent her last months with me before she had to be admitted into the hospital. She had the same type of cancer that John has and that cancer spreads really fast. She started out just fine in the first few weeks, but then weeks turned to months and she got worse. A year later she was gone. And it makes me mad that John is pushing his children away."

Peter looked as though he was about to cry.

"Peter, I know it's hard, but you must understand what he is going through."

"I do, it's just that I don't understand how he can act like everything is alright. Like he can't tell his kids."

"He needs time."

"Yeah, but my mom still told me and my sister the day she found out."

Gamora raised her eyebrow at the mention of a sister. That was news to her.

"You have a sister? You did not tell me that."

"Yeah. She was six when I left, and I have no idea where she is or if she is even alive." He answered, sighing.

"Peter, look at me."

The former outlaw turned around in his seat to look at his girlfriend, who kissed him on the lips. The kiss grew very heated, very fast, only having to break apart when Steve got back into the truck.

"Okay you guys, break it up. You can wait until we're all back at the tower." He said, sighing as he started the truck to take them back to the hospital.

This was turning out to be a very stressful day.

**A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)**


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